Four Star Alice
by Butterfly Chikage
Summary: Miyano Kurumi enrolls into Gakuen Alice mysteriously with her best friend Kusakabe Ariko, under the strange order to never let her Alice be found out by the other students. She is a high-class lady with no real social experience but lots of friends around the school, and Ariko is a girl with nekomimi always eating taiyaki who doesn't talk much. Will these two really fit in?
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Gakuen Alice

**One note before you start reading: I just realized all of my squiggly line (~) interruption breaks aren't showing up, so I'm now changing the line break to the cute little {** ('^') Time Skip ('^') **}. It's labeled with the words "Time Skip" even if it isn't a Time Skip but a...Location Shift, I guess...instead, so that's just a heads up. Thanks and please enjoy my fanfiction "Four Star Alice"!**

 **~Chikage**

 **^('^')^ \ ^('^')^/ ^('^')^**

" _Listen well. There are two rules you must follow no matter what._

 _No contact with friends and family outside the school is allowed._

 _Never reveal your Alice to other people._

 _Do you understand? Miyano Kurumi."_

" _Yes."_

" _Very well. Then, without further ado…"_

" **Welcome to Gakuen Alice!"**

 **(^'^')^ \ ^('^')^ / ^('^'^)**

"Om. Om nom."

In front of Gakuen Alice's large school campus gates, two girls stood.

The first girl with long, sleek, raven black hair pulled in two low ponytails, tied with cute blue ribbons and pulled over her thin shoulders. Bright golden eyes only slightly covered by her long bangs and wearing a navy blue silk off-shoulder top fluttering in the wind and over her thin black slightly ruffled skirt. Black high heels balanced carefully on the marble ground, and her pale hands held a black laced parasol.

The second girl with long and lush dark, honey blond curls spilling down her back and tiny twin braids down each side, green eyes focused on the jam-filled taiyaki she held in her hands. Yellow-furred cat ears twitched on her head, and she wore a tight-fitting white and green similar styled off-shoulder blouse paired with denim jean shorts as well as woven golden sandals.

The first girl looked at her friend with a slight skeptical hint to her golden eyes. "Eating taiyaki again, Ariko-chan? You'll get fat eventually."

"What's the matter?" The second girl looked up, crumbs and jam smearing her mouth. "I like it."

"That's not the issue here…" The first girl sighed. "Even if you like it, there's a problem with how many you eat in a day...well, whatever. So this is Gakuen Alice?"

"It's smaller than your house, Kurumi," The blonde noted, biting into the tail of her taiyaki.

"That's true," The twin tailed girl agreed with a giggle. "Well, I suppose we need school uniforms. Aka-chan." She snapped her fingers loudly.

There was a flash of air next to her, and a teenage boy older than both of them appeared standing there, head bent in a slight, respectful bow. His tussled hair had been attempted to be tamed but still stuck up in all directions, glittering in the sunlight in a chestnut brown color. He wore a maroon suit and tie, matching his red-brown eyes, and a small Bluetooth-like object was placed inside his ear. "I've asked you time and time again not to call me by that nickname, my lady."

"Akashi is too long," The golden-eyed girl chided. "Don't you agree, Ariko-chan?"

"Really?" The blonde finished off her taiyaki and smeared the jam and crumbs from her mouth all over the back of her hand carelessly. "I don't think too much of it."

"Here."

Another fish-shaped taiyaki was stuffed head-first into the girl's mouth, and she immediately grabbed it with both hands, nibbling it. "Meh, you're right, Kurumi. Aka-san sounds much better."

"See?" The first girl smiled brightly.

The high school boy sighed. "My apologies then, my lady. What would you need today?"

The girl gestured at the school office. "We were about to head to the office. Would you like to escort us? As a safety insurance."

"Of course, my lady."

The raven-haired, twin tailed girl Miyano Kurumi. The cat-eared, taiyaki-eating blonde Kusakabe Ariko. The high school, butler-like teenage boy Sengoku Akashi.

These three Alice-using teenagers entered the large campus of the famed Alice Academy.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

Perhaps it was just not to be, as the three couldn't even make it across to the main office without something happening.

What happened was as follows:

"Hey, are we almost there yet, Aka-chan?"

"Not quite yet, my lady. The campus is quite large. Would you like to take the bus?"

"No, I'm fine. Hey, Ariko-chan, let's run! I'll race you!"

"Don't wanna," Ariko licked her lips, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, which she in turn rubbed onto her shorts. "Too much effort."

"Come on, why not?" Kurumi insisted, running forward to meet her friend from where she had been talking with Akashi (who stayed behind politely). She had also passed off her parasol for Akashi to carry. "It'll be re-ah!"

"Kurumi!" Akashi called reflexively when she suddenly tripped over a tree branch as she was running.

Kurumi stumbled, nearly twisting her ankle with her tall heels, and her hands flew forward as she used Ariko's thin shoulders to stabilize herself. "I'm okay! Don't worry! ...Ah."

Only milliseconds later did she notice the problem.

When she had ran into Ariko, the taiyaki the cat girl had been eating slipped from between her fingers and splattered onto the ground in a puddle of purple jam and bread.

"A-Ah…" Kurumi backed away sheepishly, holding both of her hands up in a peace gesture when she noticed Ariko's petite frame trembling with fury. "S-Sorry, Ariko-chan…"

" _Kurumi!_ " Ariko yelled, whirling around. Her cat ears stood up straight on an end and so did a yellow tail that appeared on her waist, her fingernails lengthening and sharpening into claws. Her green eyes glowered with fury as she pounced on her friend, who nimbly ducked away. "That was my taiyaki!"

"I said I'm sorry!" Kurumi protested, ducking aside when the cat girl swiped at her left. "It was an accident!"

"Sorry won't bring back my taiyaki, Kurumi!" Ariko shouted.

"You're being unreasonable now! Actually-killing me won't do the job either, you know!"

"My taiyaki! I'll take revenge for my taiyaki!"

"Ariko-chan!"

"Taiyaki! Mrrrrow!"

Akashi could only watch from a distance as the two girls ran in circles, chasing each other and exchanging friendly insults. " _Friendly_ " insults.

"My taiyakiiiiiiii!" Green eyes glowing like a cat's, Ariko leaped forward to pounce on Kurumi.

Akashi saw this and prepared to move if it was required, but there wasn't a problem. Kurumi ducked back, her long hair fluttering in the wind, and brought her hand forward-

"Here, Ariko-chan~"

A brand new taiyaki was stuffed in the cat girl's mouth. The blonde immediately stopped, taking the taiyaki in both hands. She glanced down at the puddle of fallen taiyaki skeptically before her gaze returned to the new one in her hands and shrugged, taking a bite out of it. Her cat ears relaxed against her head comfortably and her tail drooped, her claws vanishing as she munched on the taiyaki happily.

"There, there," Kurumi patted the girl's head like she was a real cat, rubbing her nekomimi gently. Ariko got a pleased expression on her face, almost purring like a cat.

Kurumi smiled to herself, dusting off her hands. "Well, now that that's done and over with~ Aka-chan, which way's the office?"

"You shouldn't run, my lady," Akashi scolded. "You don't want to fall again, and those shoes aren't suited for running."

"But they're cute, aren't they?" Kurumi beamed, lifting her foot to show her leather black shoes.

"Well, yes, but-"

"Sheesh, a guy can't even get any sleep around here these days."

A middle school aged boy hopped down from a high tree branch suddenly. His messy black hair was topped by a green hat, and underneath his left blue eye was a small black restraint seal in the shape of a star. He wore the black and blue school uniform of the academy's middle school division.

Akashi tensed and moved to try to step in front of the two girls, but Kurumi quickly held out her hand to stop him. She smiled brightly. "Hello! I'm very sorry to disturb you. Are you a student here?"

"Yeah, I suppose," the boy shrugged. "So who are you?"

"My name is Miyano Kurumi," Kurumi curtsied slightly. "Could I bother you to ask which way the office is?"

"It's that way," he pointed in the direction they had been heading in. "New students?"

"Yes!" Kurumi beamed. Ariko's head bobbed once, ignoring the jam and bread crumbs all over her face.

"Oh?" The boy's face turned behind them. "Oh, if it isn't the Latent Type's Sengoku-senpai! What are you doing here?"

Kurumi glanced at Akashi expectantly. "Know him, Aka-chan?"

"A little bit," Akashi shrugged. "He's somewhat well-known in the middle school division: of the Special Ability Class, Andou Tsubasa."

"I see," Kurumi mused. "Well, I hope to see you around, Andou-kun. For now I believe the staff members are waiting for our registration confirmations...if you'll excuse me. Come on, Ariko-chan, say goodbye. Or at least say hello."

"Taiyaki is yummy," Ariko mumbled around a mouthful of jam-filled bread.

 _Bam!_

"I mean, hello. I mean, goodbye. I mean...see ya 'round," Ariko corrected herself when Kurumi's fist came down on her head.

"Let's go, my...er, _Kurumi,_ " Akashi corrected himself quickly when Kurumi gave him a pointed look. "See you, Andou-kun."

"Yeah," Tsubasa watched them go with a confused look.

The moment they had walked a good distance from him, Kurumi immediately bounced up and retained her childish attitude, grabbing Ariko by the elbow (and trying hard not to make the cat girl drop her beloved taiyaki) and racing forward. "Come on, Ariko-chan! Let's run!"

"Ah, my la...Kurumi!" Akashi said her name instead when he realized Tsubasa was still within hearing range. "You shouldn't run! You'll fall-"

"Kyaaa!"

No sooner than the words left his mouth did her ankle twist sideways and she run her face straight into the ground. She sat up just as quickly, however. "I'm okay!"

 _Splat._

"Ah…"

" _KURUMI!_ "

"I'm sorry, Ariko-chan!"

"Taiyaki!"

"When did I become food?!"

Behind them, Tsubasa watched them chase each other around in amusement, saying to himself, "Weird."

 **Hello, this is Chikage! So I've started writing a Gakuen Alice Fanfiction called Four Star Alice! Please wish me good luck! Um, ahem. I've shortened down my chapters this time so that it will be easier for you to read and allow for me to publish more at the same time. This chapter really had no plot, it simply introduced you to Kurumi and Ariko as well as some of the characters that will be showing up, but I hope you enjoyed Kurumi and Ariko's crazy antics anyway! If you enjoyed this chapter, please review! It'll make me feel better and hopefully post faster! Thank you for reading!**

 **Kurumi: Thank you very much! It's only because of fans, hopefully like you, that the author can continue to write stories!**

 **Chikage: What's that supposed to mean...?**

 **Ariko: ...but it's the truth...mm, taiyaki...**

 **Chikage: Well whatever...*sighs*...**

 **All: Thank you for reading Four Star Alice! Stay tuned for the next chapter!**

 **Oh, also, disclaimer: I own nothing but my own characters (and there will be others besides Kurumi and Ariko) and the plotline :)**


	2. Chapter 2: Introductions and Preparation

It took them about another ten minutes to get to the office. It was a straight path with no turns whatsoever, but nonetheless, the two girls kept getting-er- _sidetracked._

 _Knock knock._

"It's open."

The door to the office was pushed open, and the two girls stepped inside the spacious room cautiously. Akashi followed them inside.

"Are you Miyano Kurumi and Kusakabe Ariko?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Mrrow~"

"She means yes."

The female teacher inside sighed, setting the newspaper she was reading down. She had shoulder-length brown hair that hadn't been bothered with brushing, and irritated brown eyes that ran over the two girls skeptically. She had on a black tank top and brown, baggy sweatpants and was barefoot-nothing like what a teacher would wear. Not to mention she had been reading the magazine on the couch with her legs propped up in the air, but she (almost reluctantly) sat up properly when they entered. "About time. I was starting to think you weren't coming."

"My apologies," Kurumi lifted the edge of her skirt in a slight and curt curtsy.

"Kurumi-" Akashi spoke up quietly.

Kurumi nodded at him. "Yes. It should be fine now. Thanks, Aka-chan."

"Of course," Akashi bowed stiffly before exiting the room.

The teacher laughed, using one hand to sweep her lush hair out of her face. "It's a new thing to see that well-respected Sengoku Akashi acting so stiffly towards a little girl."

"Ara, is that so," Kurumi answered innocently, though a small anger mark popped slightly on her head at being called a little girl.

"Well, sit, sit," The teacher gestured at the couches in front of her.

"Thank you," Kurumi sat politely, tucking her skirt in under her.

"Thrank chuu," Ariko mumbled around a mouthful of taiyaki, plopping down on the chair.

"I'm Komai Suiko, but you'll call me Komai-sensei," She said, cocking a thumb at herself. "So which one of you is Miyano and which one's Kusakabe?"

"Oh, I am Miyano Kurumi," Kurumi tipped her head slightly. "This is Kusakabe Ariko-chan."

"Mrrow," Ariko answered contentedly, biting into the tail of her taiyaki.

"She can answer you properly when she's finished eating, Komai-sensei," Kurumi translated with a nod.

"I see," Komai-sensei looked slightly skeptical but brushed it off. "Well, whatever. I'm assuming you both know about Alices?"

"Yes, of course," Kurumi answered curtly.

Ariko's ear twitched as she finished off her taiyaki and wiped her mouth, as if to say, 'would I be here if I didn't?'

"Then that makes things easier," Komai-sensei sighed and crossed her legs, giving them a frivolous smile (for a teacher, at least). "Welcome to Gakuen Alice. No contact outside is allowed. That includes letters, phone calls, Alice-sending methods, or any electronic transmissions of any sort."

"Now, now, Komai-sensei, you shouldn't put it that way~"

A cheerful voice rang out inside the room as the door opened and a new teacher stepped in. He had somewhat long (for a boy) light blond hair and purple earrings matching his violet eyes and wore a thin white business shirt as well as blue jeans. He smiled cheerily as he entered.

"Narumi-sensei…" Komai-sensei sighed. "What are you doing here? This is the middle school division. Aren't you an elementary school teacher?"

"You don't have to be so cold~" The teacher called Narumi-sensei chirped. "That aside, we don't want to scare new students away on the first day, do we?"

"Then how else should I put it?" Komai-sensei snapped. "Well, whatever. What are you doing here?"

"I just came to drop by for a visit."

Bam!

Komai-sensei's fist suddenly stretched out to reach forward and slam into Narumi-sensei's face. It wasn't that she or he had moved at all; her arm merely stretched across the long distance of the room and enlarged to a giant mallet size as if responding to her will and imagination.

"Okay, okay," Narumi-sensei laughed as her fist returned to normal. "I'm here to deliver something."

"Deliver something?" Komai-sensei repeated with a scowl.

"More importantly, shouldn't you get them their school uniforms now?" Narumi-sensei suggested.

Kurumi tilted her head, slightly perplexed by the adults' conversation.

"Yeah, yeah," Komai-sensei sighed and stretched her arm out again, this time reaching into a closet nearby and digging out two middle school girl uniforms: both with a black blazer and blue plaid skirt.

Ariko stared silently at the school uniforms, green eyes blinking slowly. "We have to wear these?"

It was Kurumi who answered. "Why of course, Ariko-chan! Don't you want to?"

"Of course not. The blue doesn't look good on me."

"You'll have to wear it anyway," Kurumi chided.

"Hmph," Ariko tossed her head, her nekomimi standing on end.

"Listen, you…" Komai-sensei heaved a sigh, as if trying to say 'why do I have to deal with this?' "Whether or not you like it-"

"Here, Ariko-chan. Taiyaki."

A new fish-shaped bread entered the cat girl's mouth. She chewed thoughtfully for a while before her eyes lit up and she grabbed it with both hands, breaking off the head. "Let's go get changed, Kurumi."

"Ne~?" Kurumi beamed, reaching forward and grabbing the school uniform from the couch.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

After the two girls finished changing, they came back into the room. Narumi-sensei clapped his hands. "Waahh, kawaii, kawaii~"

Kurumi giggled and spun around. "It's kinda light...but it's tighter than I thought. I suppose I'll make a few adjustments to it later. What do you think, Ariko-chan?"

Ariko licked her fingers and wiped them on the brand new skirt, nodding. "Nice."

"I'm glad you think so too~" Kurumi clapped her hands excitedly. "Ah, come to think of it, I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Miyano Kurumi."

"Kusakabe Ariko," Ariko bowed her head slightly, her nekomimi twitching.

"Oh, I'm the homeroom teacher for the elementary school division's Class B. You can call me Narumi-sensei," Narumi-sensei chirped.

"You narcissistic, perverted, lady man teacher," Komai-sensei muttered.

"You're cold, Komai-sensei!" Narumi-sensei complained.

Komai-sensei said nothing in reply.

"Narcissistic…" Kurumi blinked up at him, thinking. "No, that actually fits really well. Say, can I call you Naru-chan?"

"Huh?" Both Narumi-sensei and Komai-sensei blinked at her in confusion.

"I see," Ariko mused. "Narcissistic Naru-chan…"

"Hey, hey, no matter how you look at it I'm still a teacher, you know!" Narumi-sensei insisted.

"Then Naru-chan-sensei!" Kurumi piped up. "Naru-chan-sensei, can I ask a favor?"

Sensing that she wasn't planning on giving up any time soon, Narumi-sensei shrugged and leaned down to face her. "What's up?"

"Can I tour the entire school campus grounds?" Kurumi asked excitedly but politely at the same time.

"Mm...I'm pretty sure that isn't a problem, but…" Narumi-sensei thought.

"Why are you asking him?" Komai-sensei asked in annoyance, cocking her thumb at the elementary teacher. "I'm in charge of you two."

"Well, I was thinking he could take me around the elementary school division first," Kurumi explained, tipping her head.

"Okay!" Narumi-sensei clapped his hands. "Let's do that, shall we?"

"Waaiii!" Kurumi cheered.

"You…" Komai-sensei sighed. "Weren't you here to deliver something?"

"Oh, that's right," Narumi-sensei seemed to remember. He dug into his pocket and held something out to Kurumi. "Kurumi-chan, right? I was told to give these to you and tell you never to take them off."

"Oh…" Kurumi's smile dipped a bit, but she quickly pasted it back on and accepted the clear, dangly Alice-restraint earrings. "Thanks!" She slipped the earrings into her piercings, taking off her current diamond studs. "Then, let's go!"

"Ariko-chan want to come too?" Narumi-sensei asked curiously.

Kurumi spotted Ariko's slightly disappointed face and said quickly, "Say, Komai-sensei, where's the nearest taiyaki stand?"

"Taiyaki stand?" Komai-sensei repeated, looking up from where she sat cross-legged on the couch. "Probably in Central Town."

Ariko's nekomimi immediately perked up and she turned around to dash out of the office.

"Ah, wait!" Kurumi protested.

"Hang on a minute, Ariko-chan!" Narumi-sensei echoed.

Ariko returned to them reluctantly, her green eyes wide and her cat tail waving in the air behind her.

"You probably couldn't buy anything yet," Narumi-sensei explained. "The currency here in Gakuen Alice is different-"

Kurumi dug around inside her previous black skirt's pocket and dug out a five bills. "Here, Ariko-chan. I'll limit you to 500 rabbits for now. Take this and this-" She passed the bills and tossed a taiyaki to the cat girl- "and go buy yourself a mountain."

Ariko grabbed the bills and caught the taiyaki in her mouth, bouncing on the balls of her feet and nodding excitedly before dashing off.

"Where did you get that?" Komai-sensei asked skeptically.

"Aka-chan gave it to me," Kurumi said brightly. "He said it was insurance money. I still have another 500...600 rabbits."

"I see," Komai-sensei shrugged carelessly. "Well, if I have anything else I need to tell you, I'll remember eventually."

"Then shall we go, Kurumi-chan?" Narumi-sensei asked cheerfully.

"Okay!" Kurumi nodded, all bubbly.

As the two headed out, Komai-sensei couldn't help but notice that the once clear earrings passed to the girl now flashed a deep blue.

 **Sorry I haven't updated in so long~ I've been really busy lately: went on vacation, a lot of cousins came over, my summer homework still isn't finished, and my house's internet is crap. But thank you to those of you reading my fanfiction and I hope you continue to support me! It'd be great if you could review and provide feedback for me and just drop in and say hi so I can say thank you for reading. I hope you liked the chapter! :) I'll try to be faster with updates, but school starts soon, so...we'll see.**

 **~Chikage**


	3. Chapter 3: Reunion with Friends

"We're here~" Narumi-sensei led her off of the bus, and she carefully stepped off onto the curb. "This is Gakuen Alice's elementary school division. Shall we take a look inside?"

"All right," Kurumi nodded.

The two ventured inside the school building and Kurumi was shown around the different classroom, meeting all sorts of little kids and making friends with nearly every single one of them. Narumi-sensei learned very quickly not to travel too fast, as Kurumi would trip over her feet every time the speed picked up.

"This way is Classroom B," Narumi-sensei said as he led her down a separate hallway.

"The classroom you teach," Kurumi remembered.

"Correct!"

"How old are the kids?"

"The oldest in the division, from 10 to 12 years old. Some graduate into middle school the next year."

"Oh." Kurumi didn't seem very excited. Truth be told, she was better with littler kids. But-

Just then, four kids of that age, all in the red and black school uniform, walked by them, chatting happily (well, most of them, anyway). Their group consisted of three girls and a boy.

One girl had thin brown ponytails bouncing from the top of her head, and she was talking with large, exaggerated hand motions and even walking backwards as she spoke to face the others, her brown eyes sparkling.

Another girl had an emotionless purple eyes and short black hair, but she had a small smile on her face as she listened to the other girl talk.

Standing next to her was the third girl, who had choppy but straight pure white hair with a black and white-laced headband on her head. Her blue eyes stayed down, immersed in the thick book she was reading.

Next to her stood a boy with ruffled, messy black hair standing up in every direction, and his blue eyes, identical to hers, stared off in the distance, giving an annoyed and bored attitude. His hands were folded behind his head as he walked, but his eyes lit up when he saw Narumi-sensei and Kurumi heading down the hallway.

Narumi-sensei raised his hand in a cheerful wave, calling down the hallway, "Hey, guys!"

"Ah, Narumi-sensei!" The twin tailed girl who had been talking broke off mid-sentence and turned to face the teacher with a happy beam.

But the boy wasn't looking at him. He immediately straightened, his hands lowering from his head as he yelled out, "Ah! It's Kurumi-ojou-"

The white-haired girl next to him slammed her book shut and interrupted him cleanly by slamming her hand down on his black hair in a powerful karate chop that sent him sprawling on the ground. "It's Kurumi- _oneesan!_ "

"Ow!" The boy sat up rubbing his head, glaring at her. "What was that for, Shiro?!"

"What do you think that was for, hmph?" The girl tossed her head. "You should really think before you speak, Kuro. Sheesh!"

The boy named Kuro and the girl named Shiro had a fierce staring contest, their identical blue eyes shooting daggers at each other. Kuro had his hands pulled back in fists and stood facing Shiro defiantly, challenging her head on, but Shiro had her body turned away from him with her arms crossed tightly and her head turned back to glare at her brother.

"Kuro! Shiro!" Kurumi waved cheerfully from the other side of the hallway.

"Kurumi-oneesan!"

The twins broke out of their staring contest immediately and rushed over, jumping excitedly.

"Kurumi-oneesan is also enrolling in Gakuen Alice?!"

"Kurumi-oneesan, I didn't hear anything about this."

"Un! Well, it was last minute, so we didn't have time to contact you. Only Aka-chan knew about it."

"Ehh, Akashi-oniisan again?"

"Kuro!" Shiro chided her brother.

"What? It's the truth!"

Instead of arguing, Shiro's arm came up and she elbowed him in the ribs sharply. Kuro yelped as he toppled on the ground again. But he shot to his feet again just as fast, yelling, "Shiro!"

Shiro glared at him coolly. "You can't compare yourself to Akashi-oniisan, Kuro."

"I know that!"

"Now, now," Kurumi knelt so that she was their height, placing her hands on the younger kids' heads. They turned to face her quickly. "You haven't been arguing, have you?"

Two pairs of identical blue eyes blinked at her. Then, simultaneously, both twins shook their heads firmly, not caring that their hair was messed up in the process.

"Really?"

At Kurumi's skeptical tone, they shared a look before pointing at each other.

"It's all-

"Shiro's fault!"

"Kuro's fault."

The sentence ended in two different ways.

Kurumi patted their heads once lightly. "Bad!"

"You know them, Kurumi-chan?" Narumi-sensei asked curiously, slightly amazed by how fast the constantly-arguing twins had been tamed.

"Yeah, we're old friends," Kurumi answered vaguely, stroking both kids' heads. "Right?"

The same answer was received this time.

"Yeah, Kurumi-oneesan!"

"Hey, hey, Kuro-kun, Shiro-chan," The twin tailed girl bounced over excitedly. "Who's that?"

"Ah, I'll introduce you," Narumi-sensei said quickly. "These are kids from my class, Sakura Mikan-"

"Nice to meet you!"

"Imai Hotaru-"

"Hello."

"And, as you probably already know, Hasegawa Kuro and Shiro. This is a new student in the middle school dimension-"

"I'm Miyano Kurumi," Kurumi smiled politely. "I'm just touring the area right now and saying hello to a few friends. I'll be in your care."

"Ah, no, that's my line!" Mikan bowed quickly. "Um...can I call you Kurumi-senpai?"

"That's perfectly fine, Mikan-chan," Kurumi smiled.

"Oh, if it isn't Ojou."

From around the corner came three more boys. The one who had spoken led them down the hallway, walking with his hands in his pockets and wearing a frivolous smile. His blond hair was tinted green, matching his olive green eyes, and around his neck dangled a pair of headphones that wasn't connected to anything.

The boy following him had raven black hair similar to Kurumi's own, and his crimson eyes glared at them, holding a tint of darkness inside it. His ears were pierced to allow him to wear a cuff Alice-restraint earring. He carried a manga in his right hand.

The third boy was a blonde, his hair only slightly lighter than Ariko's honey blond, and had curious blue eyes (that weren't as bright as the twins'). He carried a small, adorable whitish/pinkish rabbit in his hands, stroking its head in a way similar to the way Kurumi stroked Ariko's nekomimi.

The crimson-eyed boy glanced over at the first boy skeptically. "Who is she?"

"Do you know her?" The blonde's tone was lighter and filled more with curiosity.

The boy with headphones around his neck shrugged carelessly. "Nope~"

His luck ran short.

Kurumi pounced on him, squealing excitedly, "It's Kazu-kun!"

"You sure you don't know her?" The blond boy asked, his voice laced with disbelief as he watched the girl fling her arms around the smaller boy.

The boy sighed, pushing her off. "Yuck, get off of me, Ojou. That's kinda gross, you know. Actually, I thought you weren't supposed to let out the fact that we know each other."

"Well, you said it first~" Kurumi beamed.

"Who did? When?"

"Kazu!" Kuro yelled. "What kind of tone is that?"

"That's right, you could show Kurumi-neesan some respect," Shiro chided.

The boy Kazu laughed. "Yeah, yeah, my apologies, Ojou."

Kurumi didn't seem to mind, beaming. "Kazu-kun, it's been too long!"

"Really?" Kazu shrugged with another loud laugh. "I could've gone another month or two without seeing you, Ojou."

Kurumi lightly flicked him in the forehead, teasing, "You little liar!"

"Hey, you."

"Hm?" Kurumi glanced over when the crimson-eyed boy spoke sharply. "Ah, sorry! Do you need something...er…" She tipped her head.

"Oh, that's Natsume and Ruka," Kazu said nonchalantly, cocking his head at the raven-haired boy then the blonde.

"Hello," Ruka nodded his head politely.

Natsume glared at her. "You said you're new, right? What's your Alice, then?"

"Oh…" Kurumi's voice trailed off and she got a distant look in her eyes before smiling and saying, "Sorry, I wish I could help you, but I'm not permitted to tell. School's orders."

Natsume glanced at Kazu expectantly, as if expecting the younger boy to tell him in her stead (as the two obviously knew each other from long ago). Kuro and Shiro glared at Kazu from either side of Kurumi, daring the boy to speak.

Kazu shrugged and threw up his hands. "Sorry, if Ojou says she's not permitted to tell, then I can't either. It's not in my jurisdiction." Though he carried the same frivolous tone and attitude, his eyes and words held pure sincerity to them.

"Tch," Natsume stormed down the hallway. "Whatever. Let's go, Ruka."

"Natsume!" Ruka called, hurrying after him.

"Oi, oi, hold up, you," Kazu said in annoyance, his feet rising off the ground easily as he flew through the air to catch up with the other boys. "I already said I don't know her."

"Stop lying, Kazu!" Kuro yelled.

Kazu laughed and gave him a mock salute with two of his fingers before landing on the ground and heading away with Natsume and Ruka.

Shiro sighed, folding her arms. "Mou, that Kazu shows no respect as usual…"

"Huh?" Narumi-sensei looked between them, perplexed. "I don't understand what's going on anymore… Kurumi-chan, aren't you a new student?"

Kurumi blinked at him. "Yes?" She tipped her head in confusion, unsure of what he was trying to ask.

"Kurumi-oneesan is, uh…" Kuro scratched his head, thinking.

Shiro thought before explaining expertly, "Put simply, we live under the same roof in Kurumi-oneesan's man...house. She's the one who took us in and took care of us. Kazu too."

"Ehh, I had no idea," Narumi-sensei whistled.

"That's so cool!" Mikan squealed. "Say say, can we sit by you at lunch, Kurumi-senpai?"

"Mikan," Hotaru interceded, scolding her friend.

"Maybe tomorrow," Kurumi suggested. "Today's my first day, so I think I should try meeting up with some people my age."

"Oh, then you can sit with us and Tsubasa-senpai!" Mikan kept talking excitedly.

"Tsuba-ah," Kurumi thought and remembered. "Oh, I think I met him...all right! It's a promise, okay, Mikan-chan?"

"Un!" Mikan beamed.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Then I'll show you around the dorms and the classrooms now."

Komai-sensei yawned as she led Kurumi down the hallway, who had been joined by Ariko (who was dragging a mountain-high pile of taiyaki on a wagon).

"Also, Kusakabe, drop that outside. You'll leave marks on the floor."

Ariko's ears and tail immediately stood on end as she hissed at the teacher.

Kurumi patted the girl's head gently, and she relaxed almost reluctantly, her ears flattening against her head. "Sorry, I'll keep it," She said to the skeptical teacher. "Is that okay, Ariko-chan?"

Ariko sulked but bobbed her head once.

Kurumi snapped her fingers the instant she got the cat girl's confirmation, and a gigantic pink leather bag appeared upside down in the air, swallowing the entire wagon itself before vanishing again.

Ariko brightened. "Ah, it's the Giant Vacuum Bag!"

"Ne~?" Kurumi beamed as she snapped her fingers again and it vanished. "Kazu-kun helped me make it~"

Komai-sensei heaved a sigh.

The two girls were led around the school and showed the different rooms in the dorms according to the star rankings, as well as the classrooms they would be using.

"Well, that's really all there is to know for now," Komai-sensei said absently, ruffling her long hair. "Any questions, just ask. Incidentally, I'll be your homeroom teacher. Got it?"

"Yes!" Kurumi nodded. "Thank you!"

"Taiyaki…" Ariko's tail waved in the air.

"Ahhhhh!" A voice rang out in the hallway, and Komai-sensei flinched from where she had just been about to leave.

They turned to see three middle school girls, all in the blue uniform, standing someway down the hallway.

The first girl who had spoken had bright pink hair curled to perfection and pulled up in a high side ponytail, tied off with a thin blue ribbon and an ahoge standing up on her head. Her fuchsia eyes glittered in excitement as she pointed at the three standing there.

Her friends were startled and had stepped back half a step when the girl had called out. One was a girl with lighter brown hair, braided in twin pigtails, her brown eyes wincing as the girl's loud voice echoed in her ear. The other girl had both hands cupped around her ears, her black ponytail bouncing as she stepped back and an annoyed look in her green eyes.

Komai-sensei rolled her eyes. "Takino-san, you again-"

The first girl bounded over enthusiastically, completely ignoring the teacher as she danced around the two other girls. "Ahhh! It's Ariko-chi and Hime-chan!"

"Hime…?" Komai-sensei looked confused.

Ariko's tail twitched. Kurumi beamed. "Yui!"

"Hime-chan is also in Gakuen Alice now?!" The girl, Yui, squealed as she grabbed both of Kurumi's hands, jumping up and down energetically. "Yaayy, Yui su~per happy! Yay, yay, yay!"

"You know her, Yui?" Her friends asked curiously as they walked over.

"Yup! Yui know her su~per well!" Yui chirped. "She's Yui's...best best be~st friend from su~per long ago! Isn't that right, Hime-chan~?"

"Un!" Kurumi bobbed her head once.

"So she's…" The girl with pigtails said, her voice trailing off.

"Oh, Kusakabe Ariko-chi and Miyano Kurumi-himesama! Aka Hime-chan!" Yui cheered.

"No, you're the only one who calls me that, Yui…" Kurumi said sheepishly.

"And these are Yui's new friends, Amamiya Honoka-chi and Saiko Tomo-chan!" Yui went on in the same peppy attitude.

"Hello."

"Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you," Kurumi curtsied slightly. "I'll be in your care."

"Ne, ne, ne, ne, ne~" Yui interrupted. "What made Hime-chan suddenly decide to come to Gakuen Alice? Yui thought Hime-chan would ne~ver come here, even if her life depended on it!"

"That's not true!" Kurumi insisted. "Circumstances changed, that's all."

"Whatever, whatever, Yui su~per happy!" Yui cheered. "Ne, ne, ne, ne, ne~ We'll be in the same class, right, Hime-chan?"

"Un!"

Komai-sensei grumbled something under her breath and gave up trying to understand the conversation. "I'm done here. You don't need me to tour you around the high school division do you, Miyano? 'Cause I'm busy, you know."

"Oh, no, it's quite all right," Kurumi said sincerely, bowing her head. "Thanks, Sensei."

Komai-sensei walked away.

"Hime-chan's going to the high school division?" Yui asked excitedly.

"Un, wanna come?"

"Yea-ah, sorry, Yui's su~per busy right now...Catch you later, Hime-chan! Let's go, Honoka-chi, Tomo-chan!"

"Ah, hang on-Yui!"

Kurumi giggled as she watched the two other girls chase after the super energetic girl racing down the hallway.

 **So there's a new chapter~ Yaayyy! I'm very excited for this! I hope those of you reading this will be kind enough as to drop in a review to tell me what you think, because I love feedback! Kurumi's more mysterious than she seems, huh? And Ariko's rather straightforward ^~^ Thanks for reading! Feel free to also tell me what you think will happen next! :3 I'll update again as soon as I can!**

 **~Chikage**


	4. Chapter 4: Reunion with Friends Part II

"I want to see the classroom one more time," Ariko said.

Kurumi nodded. "All right, let's go!"

The door to their classroom was opened-

 _Crash!_

"Ow!" Kurumi wailed, rubbing her forehead as she stumbled backwards.

Luckily, Ariko had just finished her taiyaki and avoided another fiasco.

"Oh, sorry!" A boy's voice said. "I was just-oh, what, it's you…?"

Kurumi blinked and looked up at the unfamiliar voice to see the boy they had met earlier on the way to the office, Andou Tsubasa. He grinned at them.

"Yo! We meet again, huh?"

"Oh, hello," Kurumi bowed her head.

"Tsubasa! What are you doing, you moron?"

A girl came charging down the hallway, and something slammed into the boy's head. Kurumi squealed when she saw it coming and her ankle twisted the wrong way as she fell on the ground. "Ow!"

"Oh, sorry, sorry!" The girl hurried up. "I didn't mean to-are you okay?"

Kurumi popped to her feet not seconds later. "I'm fine! Don't worry!"

"I see," the girl smiled in relief. Her hair was straight and shoulder-length, in a brownish, reddish color that matched her eyes, and she wore the blue school uniform nicely. "Oh, are you new students, perhaps?"

"Un!" Kurumi's head bobbed. "I'm Miyano Kurumi. I'll be transferring to this class."

"Kusakabe Ariko," Ariko murmured, hiding behind Kurumi with her tail twitching. "Same."

"I see," the girl smiled. "I'm Harada Misaki. I'm in the class next door."

"I'll be in your care for the year," Kurumi nodded her head.

"Say, Kusakabe-san, I've been wondering for a while-are those nekomimi real?" Misaki asked curiously.

"Of course they are," Ariko answered, leaning against Kurumi. Her nekomimi were flattened against her head in satisfaction. "I wouldn't benefit from wearing fake nekomimi."

She said this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I see," Misaki reached forward. "Then can I touch it?"

Kurumi's hand immediately shot out to stop her. "I wouldn't if I were you. If you don't stroke it correctly, she'll kill you."

"Kill…"

"Oh? So these are real?" Tsubasa appeared behind them suddenly and yanked on her tail.

"Ah." Kurumi immediately stepped away from Ariko with her hands up, heading over to where Misaki was standing.

The cat girl trembled with fury. "Mrrroowww!" She yelled, her nails sharpening into class as her green eyes lit up in fury, her ears and tail standing up on end. "I'll kill you!"

"Whoa!" Tsubasa ducked aside as she swiped forward, cutting off a strand of his hair. "She's serious…?"

"Don't touch my tail!" Ariko hissed, pouncing again.

"See?" Kurumi sighed to Misaki.

Misaki sweat dropped. "I see…"

Tsubasa ducked behind Ariko's swipe and his foot shot forward, stepping on her shadow. Ariko suddenly froze and her legs trembled as she found herself unable to move. She hissed.

"Whew, that was close," Tsubasa mused. "So? What should I do about this wild cat?"

Kurumi sighed, heading over as her hand suddenly vanished into space. "I'll handle it…"

Taiyaki was dangled in front of the cat girl.

Ariko's eyes immediately lit up as she spotted it, trying to grab it from her friend's hands. "Mrrow!" Kurumi gestured for Tsubasa to release her and he did, and Ariko immediately snatched it away and started munching on the head.

"There, there," Kurumi stroked the girl's ear, earning a contented purr. Ariko's tail swished back and forth.

"Well, that was a hectic meeting," Kurumi laughed. "Nice to meet you, Andou-kun, Harada-san."

"Misaki is fine," Misaki winked, "Kurumi."

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

Akashi was just talking to another high schooler his age, who had black hair and glasses-Representative Imai Subaru-and a girl by his side just in case, when his name was called loud and clear.

"Ah, Aka-chan!...Senpai!" The upperclassman tag was added as a reluctant afterthought, and Kurumi ran down the campus with Ariko right behind her. Akashi was startled to see them.

"Hey, you," Representative Imai started over. "Middle schoolers aren't allowed on-"

"Kyaa!" Kurumi suddenly tripped and fell flat on her face. "Owie~ I'm fine!"

Akashi sighed at her usual action. "Kurumi…"

Representative Imai's eyes flickered over to him briefly, pushing up his glasses. "Do you know her, Sengoku?"

"Well, I guess she's-" Akashi scratched his head, unsure of how to explain.

"Kurumi!" Another high school girl ran over, and Kurumi immediately brightened, shooting to her feet.

The girl was wearing the tan skirt under the black uniform blazer like all the other girls, but the skirt matched her light tan-ish, orangish hair rather well, shoulder-length and straightened. Her brown eyes and mouth both smiled when she saw the middle school girl.

"Ah! Sonata!" Kurumi squealed, throwing her arms around the upperclassman. Then she thought and added, "Senpai."

The girl Sonata laughed. "I never thought I'd see you here, Kurumi. How've you been doing?"

"A little bit bored," Kurumi answered truthfully. "Is Gakuen Alice fun?"

Sonata shrugged with a smile. "Well, it depends on what you think. Oh? Ariko's here too!"

"Mrrow," Ariko said, contentedly finishing the taiyaki she carried.

Sonata reached forward and petted the girl's nekomimi expertly, earning a satisfied purr from the cat girl. She giggled. "Yup, I still love Ariko's nekomimi…"

"Mrrow~" Ariko's tail swished in the air.

"Kazehara!"

Sonata whirled around, her hand leaving Ariko's head as she turned to face Representative Imai at the sound of her surname.

"Representative Imai."

"What is going on here?" He demanded. "Middle schoolers aren't allowed on the high school campus."

"But she's-" Sonata started to protest.

"Excuse me-" Akashi began at the same time.

Kurumi held up a hand to stop both of them, stepping forward and curtsying politely, coughing a little into her hand to clear her throat. "Excuse me. My name is Miyano Kurumi, and I'm a new student here. I just finished registration confirmations in the office. I gained the approval of Komai-sensei, my homeroom teacher, to allow my friend and myself to tour the different divisions to get a sense of what the school I will now be living in will be like, and I have just finished both the elementary and middle school ones to come here. If I am being a bother or disrupting something, I would be glad to turn around and leave if it would satisfy you."

Representative Imai was slightly startled by her formal response, as well as all of the correct points she had made.

Ariko ruined the moment. "No you wouldn't, Kurumi. I'm sure you would go and file a complaint the moment you got a chance."

Kurumi's hair stood on ends as she whirled around. "Ariko-chan!"

Ariko shrugged. "What? I'm saying the truth."

A fish-shaped taiyaki was stuffed in her mouth.

Ariko grudgingly swallowed. "I mean, I'm kidding. You wouldn't do that, Kurumi."

Kurumi turned to apologize again to the upperclassman-

She was smothered in a giant bear hug.

"Kyaaa, my little Kurumi is so cute!" Sonata squealed. "I love your serious side! You've grown up so much~"

"Please let go of me, Sonata!" Kurumi complained. "Senpai."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sonata's hands immediately flew up in a peace gesture as she let the younger girl go.

"Am I being a bother?" Kurumi tipped her head expectantly at Representative Imai.

"No, I apologize for speaking out of line," Representative Imai bowed his head slightly.

Kurumi blinked, then curtsied. "No, I should apologize for intruding first."

"Taiyaki," Ariko murmured, her mouth smeared with jam.

"Sonata...senpai!" Kurumi said excitedly. "Can you show me around the school?"

"All right, let's go!" Sonata cheered, grabbing the younger girl's hands and dragging her towards the school. Ariko trailed after them, stuffing her face with taiyaki.

Akashi bowed at Representative Imai, murmuring, "Excuse me for a bit," and headed after them.

Representative Imai watched them go with skeptical eyes, pushing up his glasses.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"My lady, you went around all the divisions doing this to all the people in the household, didn't you?" Akashi sighed as they neared the end of Sonata's tour.

"Yeah, I did," Kurumi said innocently, not understanding what was wrong.

"We said that we would keep our current relationship a secret for the time being, did we not?" Akashi asked. "What will you do now? You'll be inquired about your relationship."

Kurumi thought. "Most likely."

"And?"

Kurumi giggled. "Don't worry about it, Aka-chan!"

"How could I not-?" Akashi protested.

"Sonata."

The older girl turned with a smile when her name was called. "Yes, Kurumi?"

Kurumi smiled mischievously. "I have a request."

"Yes…?"

" _Clear the memory of everyone who witnessed a reunion._ "

Sonata's brown eyes were downcast briefly before she knelt down on one knee politely, dipping her head.

"Your wish is my command."

A diamond dust rained throughout the school campus grounds.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Waaah, what's this? It's so pretty! It's like snow!" Mikan said excitedly from where she, Hotaru, and the twins were outside talking to Narumi-sensei.

Narumi-sensei narrowed his eyes. "Don't tell me this is…"

"Mikan!"

He whirled around when Hotaru cried out suddenly to see that the twin tailed girl had suddenly collapsed on the ground without a word. "Mikan-chan?! What happened?"

"I'm not sure," Hotaru said. "She suddenly just-"

She didn't get to finish when she suddenly collapsed on the ground herself.

"Imai!" Narumi-sensei caught her before she fell. "Kuro-kun, Shiro-chan, are you-" He froze when he turned to see that the two twins were standing together with their hands clasped tightly, the other held out in the air. From the ground stemmed a black and white mixed bubble shield protecting the two of them, the colors swirling around. "You guys…"

"Sorry, Narumi-sensei," Kuro said coolly.

The light fell on his head and it swarmed with sudden blackness, but as he wasn't as inexperienced as the other girls, he managed to avoid passing out.

"Well, I suppose this was expected," Shiro said calmly.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Ah, ah, Ojou is so temperamental~"

Floating next to a sleeping Ruka with his legs crossed, Kazu had his hands at his side with his palms open and facing upwards. From it were two miniature tornado-like vacuums, sucking up any of the dust-like particles that got close to him.

"Well, I saw this coming."

Next to Ruka, Natsume had been lying on the green lawn, sleeping with his face covered by a book as usual.

"I guess I'll have to apologize about this later, Natsume~"

Kazu's mini tornado sucked the book off of his face.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Hm? What's that?" Komai-sensei sat inside the staff room with the window open, reading a magazine and eating a lollipop of some sort when she noticed the dust falling outside. "Probably a prank…"

She returned to reading her magazine, but from the open window a gust of wind carried inside some of the dust and blew it in her face.

The lollipop and magazine were dropped to the ground as the teacher put her hand to her head.

"Honoka-chi! Tomo-chan! Don't die on Yui!"

Yui wailed as she stood next to her now sleeping friends. Then she giggled and stuck out her tongue playfully.

"Ju~st kidding~ I knew Hime-chan would end up doing this~ Hime-chan's always su~per careful about things, after all."

In a ring around the bubbly middle school girl, the floor seemed to cave in slightly from a strange force as all of the dust around her dropped to the ground like bowling balls.

Yui stretched. "Ah, ah, now Yui has to do all the work! How su~per super boring~"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

On the high school campus grounds, Representative Imai was just talking privately with the other girl always following him when the dust started falling.

"What's this?" He asked in confusion, catching some in his hand.

All of a sudden, the girl swayed and collapsed on the ground, sleeping soundly.

"Oi! Are you okay?" Representative Imai went to kneel and check on her, but his feet stumbled and he leaned against the tree trunk instead as his head swarmed in darkness.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

Sonata's brown eyes opened and she stood up slowly, stepping away from Kurumi to watch the dust fall. "Overwrite Glitter Dust," She said softly, her eyes holding a trace of regret and sadness. "I've rewritten the memories of ten people. Some of them don't even remember you anymore. Are you sure this is alright with you, Master?"

Kurumi lowered her gaze but nodded. "Yeah, thanks, Sonata. Ariko-chan?"

Ariko's head bobbed amidst her jam-filled taiyaki. "Mm. Can't be helped."

"Is this really okay, my lady?" Akashi asked softly.

Kurumi nodded, and he nodded back reflexively.

"All right, then!" Kurumi cheered, stretching as she turned to face the school. "It's time to start over!"

 **Fuwaaa~ Both this chapter and the previous were kind of long~ (Tbh, every two chapters so far has made up a single chapter in my original document. I've been splitting it because it's too long. Teheh!) But I like it so far! Next chapter is when things start getting interesting, so stay tuned! Thanks for reading, and again, please do drop in a review when you get the chance!**

 **Chikage signing out!**


	5. Chapter 5: Classroom Chaos

"Nice to meet you."

Habitually, Kurumi lifted the edges of her skirt and curtsied at the front of the classroom.

"Miyano Kurumi is my name. I'll be in your care from now on."

"Kusakabe Ariko."

Ariko nibbled on a piece of taiyaki and dipped her head slightly, dropping crumbs on the floor.

"I like taiyaki."

"Give them a warm welcome if you would," Komai-sensei announced. Her long hair was piled up in a neat high bun and she wore wired glasses around her eyes. She was dressed in a formal business outfit with high heels; it was as if she was a completely different person.

They were greeted with silence, around 25 pairs of eyes staring up at them curiously.

Komai-sensei gave a small sigh before looking back up at the class. "All right then, any questions?"

"Yes," A boy stood up without even raising his hand. He glared at them with chestnut brown eyes, his dark brown/black hair sticking up in some areas but otherwise relatively tamed. He had his hand in the pocket of his school uniform.

"Hiroshi, time and time again I've said not to-"

The boy ignored the teacher completely and spoke, still glaring daggers at the two girls. "I'll just come and out and say it. You two don't look like Alices. Do you really have an Alice?"

Kurumi blinked and tipped her head with a smile still on her face, looking utterly confused. "Yes…?"

"Then, what is it?" The boy demanded bluntly. "Your guys' Alices."

"I…" Kurumi hesitated. She gave them a sheepish smile. "...am not permitted to tell."

"I don't wanna," Ariko said with the same bluntness.

"See?" The boy slammed his hand down on the table. He pointed at them accusingly. "They're probably fakes. Prodigy wannabes, you can call it. Komai-sensei, why are they even here?"

Kurumi narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me."

The boy turned to her, startled, but then scowled. "What do you want?"

"May I have your name, please?"

"...Hiroshi Arata," the boy conceded reluctantly with the same scowl.

"Very well, then, Hiroshi-kun. I must ask you to excuse my courteous appearance with this next question, as I will cut straight to the point," She gave a small "ahem," clearing her throat. Then she asked bluntly, "Do you have holes for eyes?"

"What?" The entire class was taken aback.

"Putting myself aside in the matter, can you not fairly obviously _see_ the nekomimi on Ariko-chan's head?"

Ariko's nekomimi twitched at this, and her tail swished in the air.

"I'm not sure what your idea of the standard human is, but I, for one, ignoring the taiyaki addiction she has, am 90% sure that normal humans don't have aspects of a cat," Kurumi went on. "This alone can tell you she's an automatic Somatic Type Alice. Unless you think humans should all have mutations that sprout nekomimi and tails?"

The class burst into laughter at this, and Arata flushed red with embarrassment. "Fine, putting the cat girl aside-"

"Oh, you shouldn't call her that unless you want to be killed," Kurumi advised, grabbing onto Ariko's wrist to prevent her from moving. As if trying to prove her friend's point, Ariko's eyes glinted dangerously and her nails sharpened into claws.

"Mrrow!"

A taiyaki to calm the angry kitten was sacrificed.

Arata scowled. "Fine. Putting her aside, what about you? You look normal to me. Or rather, you look _too_ normal. And that stuff about not being allowed to say your Alice is just bogus crap. You're a fake, aren't you?"

 _Slam!_

"What do you know, Arata-kun?!" Takino Yui shot to her feet in anger. "Yui won't stand having you insulting Hime-chan this way! If she says she can't tell, then she de~finitely can't tell! But Hime-chan's Alice is special, so she can't go flaunting it around! And it's mu~ch better than yours!"

A moment of stunned silence. Apparently Yui wasn't one to yell very often.

Then Kurumi smiled politely. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Eh?" Yui whirled around to face her.

"I think you've got the wrong person."

Yui stiffened. Although Kurumi's face was smiling politely, her eyes were glaring daggers, saying, 'if-you-don't-go-along-with-it-then-you're-screwed.'

Yui giggled sheepishly. "Oh~ Sorry, guess you're right. You just look a su~per lot like Yui's best best be~st friend Hime-chan, that's all. Ah! Ne, ne, ne, ne, ne~ Can Yui just call you Hime-chan? Since Kurumi-san looks like a himesama!"

"I guess that would be acceptable," Kurumi said sheepishly.

"Yaayy!" Yui cheered.

" _Takino!_ "

Yui stiffened when Komai-sensei yelled loudly. "Yes, Sensei?"

"Sit down," Komai-sensei commanded.

"Right~ Sorry!" Yui stuck out her tongue sheepishly and plopped back down in her seat.

"And Hiroshi!"

Arata scowled.

"I can vouch for Miyano," Komai-sensei said. "She has direct orders from the school not to reveal her Alice to the public."

"Sorry," Kurumi smiled, bowing slightly.

"Tch," Arata spat and sat down again. "I still don't believe it."

"Believe it or not, it doesn't matter to me either way," Kurumi curtsied. "In any way, you are not the headmaster, so you cannot expel me no matter how hard you wish. I'll be in your care from now on, Hiroshi-kun."

"Tch."

"All right, sit down," Komai-sensei commanded. "I have a meeting today, so it'll be a self-study time. If I hear anything about this class, we're running tomorrow!"

She exited the classroom.

The moment she left, Yui shot Kurumi a look that said 'sorry-Hime-chan!'

Kurumi simply nodded. Then she turned to Ariko with a beam. "Then let's go sit down, Ariko-chan!"

She skipped down the aisle. As she was hopping, someone sitting stuck out his leg-

"Kyaaa!" Kurumi yelped as she tripped over her own feet a good meter or two from the boy's outstretched foot. She climbed up quickly. "Don't worry, I'm fine!"

The entire class was left in sheepish surprise, sweat dropping.

Kurumi continued down the aisle, and someway down she spun around to face Ariko excitedly, "Ne, ne, Ariko-chan-hyaaa!"

This time she tripped over a person's outstretched foot and tumbled backwards, her foot accidentally kicking Ariko's half-eaten taiyaki in the air. "Ah…" Ariko watched the taiyaki fly from her hands into the air, curving in a high arc-

The expected splattering never happened. The taiyaki floated in the air, the jam still intact inside. Ariko's eyes lit up and she grabbed it from the air, nibbling on it.

Kurumi let out a breath. "Thank goodness, that was the last plum-flavored one…"

"Telekinesis is cool," Ariko mumbled.

"That wasn't telekinesis!"

They turned to look at Yui when she stood up. She placed her hand on her chest proudly.

"You see, Yui has the Gravity Alice! Yui simply lightened the gravity on Ariko-chi's taiyaki, making it float. That's all! See? Su~per easy."

"I see," Kurumi said sheepishly. "Thanks…."

"Ah, Yui's name is Takino Yui! But just call Yui Yui!"

"All right, thanks, Yui!" Kurumi beamed.

Yui gave her a bright smile.

The two girls seemed to be wrapped inside their own bright, cheery world.

"Oi."

Kurumi tuned at the sound of a new voice, spotting the boy who spoke sitting behind her in the very last row. He had slightly spiky, tussled dirty blond/brown hair and mysterious violet eyes staring out the window into space nonchalantly even as he spoke, his arms folded behind his head and his legs propped up and folded on the table. A dangling silver Alice-restraint earring hung from one ear.

Next to him was another boy, with slightly longer and tamed straight dark brown hair, carelessly leaning against his elbow propped perpendicularly on the table and deep blue eyes scanning through the pages of a book, briefly looking up at the two of them when they turned.

The first boy with the earring didn't turn away from the window. "You're too loud...quiet down, monkeys."

"Hm…?" Kurumi simply tipped her head with a smile on her face, looking somewhat confused. "Monkey…?"

The boy gave her an amused look, turning to look at her for the first time. "You…"

Ariko looked up at him, still munching on taiyaki. "...Kurumi lacks common sense."

"What are you talking about, Ariko-chan?"

Though her face was smiling, as usual, she emitted an extremely strong, murderous aura.

Ariko's green eyes dropped down to the jam-filled bread in her hand. "Taiyaki."

The boy laughed. "Ahaha you're interesting! You said your name was Miyano Kurumi, monkey?"

"Ah, yes," Kurumi nodded, bowing her head slightly out of habit. "And you are…?"

"Name's Ren, Sawakiguchi Ren," he answered nonchalantly. "And that bookworm right there is Fujitome Yuuta."

"Oi, Ren!" The other boy protested at the somewhat rude introduction.

"Sa-Sawa-Sawaki...too hard to pronounce," Ariko mumbled.

"Mm, you're right. Just call me Ren then," Ren laughed it off.

"Hey, you!" A slam of hands and a girl stood up defiantly, placing one foot on the table and folding her arms. "You shouldn't speak to Ren-sama so rudely, you know! You'll have to go through me, Sakurako Akemi, president of Ren-sama's fan club!"

"There's such a thing…?" Arata said skeptically.

"Of course!" Akemi announced proudly.

Her hair was a little bit crazy. Her light brown hair was pulled up in three different buns on her hair, accompanied by a large red ribbon on the side of her head. The strand of hair that stuck out on the right side of her face was curled to perfection. Her hazel eyes glittered with confidence, and she made careful sure that the plaid blue uniform skirt didn't lift too high up her leg.

Ariko eyed Akemi's hair with sudden interest. "Mrrow."

Kurumi giggled. "Kumomimi, is it?"

Akemi's face flushed and she put her hand against her long hair piled on her head. "Wh-What? Anyway, don't talk to Ren-sama that way or you'll have me to answer to, do you understand?"

"Hey, you." Ren spoke up.

"What is it, Ren-sama?" Her attitude immediately changed as she turned to Ren with sparkles in her eyes and around her hair, asking innocently as she lowered her leg.

Ren immediately shot her down, glaring at her coldly. "Shut the hell up. You're annoying."

Akemi sobbed tearily and sat down in her seat. A girl sitting next to her tried to comfort her sheepishly.

"U-Um!" A boy stood up quickly, his hands hitting the desk by accident and causing him to wince slightly. "I think we should stop talking now...it's a little bit noisy...the teacher might come back anytime soon...so we should study…"

He had mostly straight black hair, some strands sticking up due to stress, and his wired glasses slipped down his nose slightly as he stood up. His blue eyes were full of worry, and his voice was weak and hesitant as he was speaking to the troublesome crowd.

Ren laughed amiably. "Don't worry about it, Prez, she'll never get here."

"Ren! You'll get in even more trouble!" Yuuta scolded, snapping his book shut.

"Yeah, yeah, such a goody two shoes, Yuu," Ren said in annoyance. "If she can't reach me then it's fine, right?"

"But that's-" The boy tried to protest, though everyone ignored him.

"So, monkey," Ren turned back to Kurumi jokingly.

But as usual, Kurumi simply smiled brightly, tipping her head. "Yes?"

"I happened to catch wind of a rather interesting trial that happened some weeks ago," He said nonchalantly.

"Oi, Ren, you can't be-" Yuuta tried to stop him.

"Shut up," Ren demanded. "This seems interesting, so go to the Northern Forest and come back alive. Then I'll believe you have an Alice, whether you use it or not."

"So I don't need to go?" Ariko asked, her nekomimi twitching.

"Nope," Ren shrugged. "I'm not like some idiot who has holes for eyes. Nekomimi definitely isn't normal."

"Ren, you bastard-" Arata snarled.

"So?" Ren ignored Arata carelessly, facing Kurumi with a smile.

"Hmph!" Akemi tossed her head. "There's no way anyone will just go and say, 'Yes, I'd be glad to!' you know, Ren-sama-"

"Yes, I'd be glad to!"

 **New update today! I'm actually much further ahead in the story, so I'll just post two new parts (one chapter on my original doc) every day until I catch up. But thank you Welt Ende very much for reviewing! It made my day! One more thing: if you've read my PoT fanfiction, you might have noticed this already but I'm not very good at creating new plotlines. I like to follow the original storyline. :) Ren is different from Natsume, but he's an equally interesting character, I think.**

 **Welt Ende:** Thank you so much for your kind words! It really helps to know that someone is reading this :) Also, about my artwork, did you see it on Wattpad? That one is the account I did with my little sister, Himeka. She's _amazing_ at digital art; I couldn't do digital art if my life depended on it. I can't color, either. I prefer traditional art. Most of my favorite art pictures are on Instagram, but that's okay; thanks for taking a look!

I think I should also mention: Gakuen Alice was an amazing anime. Frankly, I found it really good. It's a little bit childish and really light and fluffy without much plotline, but there was a lot of interaction with the characters and comedy and things and I just really liked it; the ending was a bit rough. (The manga was way too sad for my liking though). The main series focuses on Mikan and Natsume. My own characters are: Kurumi, Ariko, Akashi, Kuro, Shiro, Kazu, Sonata, Yui, Ren, Yuuta, Akemi, Naoki, Arata, Komai-sensei, and a majority of middle school class (aside from Tsubasa and Misaki). To clear up some confusion. Sorry, that was really long :3

 **Thanks for reading, and I hope the rest of you take the time to drop in a review as well!**

 **~Chikage**


	6. Chapter 6: Classroom Chaos II

"Huh?" All eyes turned from Akemi to Kurumi, who beamed brightly.

"Er...what?" Akemi stammered, bewildered.

"It seems like fun, after all!" Kurumi said excitedly. "I toured the school yesterday, but I never saw the Northern Woods. Right, Ariko-chan?"

Ariko raised her hand. "I'm going too."

"Ehh? But he said you don't have to-" Kurumi tried to protest.

Ariko's nekomimi stood on end and her green eyes glared at Kurumi. "Kurumi...you can't be thinking of leaving me out on the fun...want to meet neko…"

"I-I understand, let's go together, okay?" Kurumi said sheepishly, putting up both hands and backing away from her murderous aura. "It'll be lots of fun!"

"Mm," Ariko's head bobbed. "I can sense it...lots of animals there…"

"P-Please wait a minute!" The boy with glasses insisted. "You can't be serious-the Northern Woods is-"

Naturally, he was ignored again.

Ren burst into laughter, and Yuuta sighed before standing up. "I don't believe you know exactly what the Northern Woods is."

"I know," Kurumi answered, pointing out the windows. "It's that forest over there, right? I was told by Aka-chan to stay away from it, but since he says that, it's only more mysterious and curious in my eyes. However, if you ask me exactly what's inside it, I'm afraid I can't answer to that."

"The Northern Woods is full of different creatures that the outside world has never seen before-not to mention some of them are hostile-" Yuuta began.

This was the wrong way to start. Ariko slammed her hand down on the table in front of them, her green eyes glinting and her hands free of her finished taiyaki.

"How do I get there? When can I go?"

"Ariko-chan, don't be so rough!" Kurumi insisted. "Although, I can't say I'm not curious myself."

Ren laughed. "Seriously? You guys are hilarious! All right, you're on! I'll have someone watch the woods while you're in there, so you won't die or anything."

"As if we would," Kurumi and Ariko said simultaneously.

Ren shrugged. "Well, you never know~ Either way, Sensei isn't coming back anytime soon, so I'm booking it. You coming, Yuu?"

"Well, I suppose I must," Yuuta sighed, sliding out of the bench.

"No one said that." Though these words left the boy's mouth, his mischievous violet eyes said otherwise. Ren laughed and pulled open the window. "Well, whatever."

Fingers appeared on the doorway, followed by a woman's voice oozing bloody murder. "Where do you think you're going, Sawakiguchi….?"

Ren stiffened from where he was just about to jump out the window. "Ah, it's Sensei...I'm running!"

"Hang on, this is the fourth floor!" Kurumi tried to protest, but he jumped down anyway, with Yuuta right behind him. As they watched, the two landed on the floor with no problem, almost as if they had only jumped a few inches. The moment they vanished in the distance, the door was slammed closed and Komai-sensei appeared, slightly breathless.

"Ah, Komai-sensei!" Kurumi waved cheerfully. "Hello! How was the meeting?"

Komai-sensei trembled with anger. "You...You're all running tomorrow! Twenty laps!"

A chorus of "Ehhhhh's" were heard throughout classroom A.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Yui won't let you! Yui won't let you go!"

"Yui!" Kurumi insisted. "I have to do it!"

"No, no, no!" Yui wailed. "If Aka-chan said to stay away from it, then Yui won't let you go near the Northern Woods either!"

"Then Yui should come with us…" Ariko spoke up.

Yui's eyes immediately lit up. "Really? Can Yui? Wait, no…" Yui shook her head, flinging her pink ponytail around. "Yui won't fall for that! De~finitely not!"

"Fall for what?"

"Ahhhh!" Yui protested when she noticed that the two girls had already bypassed her and started running for the woods.

"Kawaii animals!" Kurumi cheered.

"Kawaii neko…" Ariko mumbled, her eyes glittering in excitement.

"Ah, mou~" Yui complained, racing after them. "Fine, Yui's going too!"

"Ah, you can't, Takino-san…"

They turned to see the shy boy from their class with glasses standing there, fidgeting nervously.

"Ah, Iinchou!" Yui said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Um...er...Sawakiguchi-san told me to come here and follow them…" The boy answered hesitantly, though it was obvious that he wasn't here of his own will.

"Oh, right, Ren-kun said something about having an eye inside…" Yui remembered. "But you can't be serious! Iinchou's Alice is su~per useless! There's no wa~y he'll be able to protect Hime-chan!"

"U-Um...yeah…well that's..." The boy looked away.

"Yui!" Kurumi scolded sharply.

Yui blinked at Kurumi and then said quickly, "Er, no, Yui didn't mean it like that! It has to be useful for so~mething...er, yeah! So please don't wo~rry, Iinchou!"

The boy, the one she was calling a Class Representative, blinked up at her. He had a little bit of trouble comprehending the situation in front of him, but that was no surprise. Yui was known not for being troublesome, but more for her large chatterbox mouth. She tended to say whatever was on her mind without really thinking about how the receiving party felt, even if it meant no harm (but everyone knew that), and she believed that apologizing after saying something wrong did no good-and this kind of girl had immediately apologized and corrected her words at one sharp reprimand. It was firmly stood in his belief that these two had known each other for quite some time.

"Yui, I told you before to think more before you speak!" Kurumi scolded.

"So~rry! But Hime-chan knows that Yui is a su~per chatterbox!"

"It's okay," The boy said quickly. "I mean, it's true after all…"

"Correction!"

He blinked and looked up to find Kurumi pointing at him sternly.

"There's no such thing as a useless Alice! Well, I won't blame you if you don't want it, but I think you should be able to find a use for it."

Just as the boy's eyes began to light up-

"So, Yui, I'm going into the woods! I'll catch you later! If Aka-chan comes looking for me, tell him I'm busy at the time, okay~?"

"Oka~y!" Yui chirped, waving

And thus, the Class Representative of the middle school's Classroom A Onohara Naoki was forcefully dragged into the Northern Woods with two slightly crazy girls.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

They came across a predicament almost immediately.

"So...how do you plan on getting across, Kurumi?"

"Why are you asking me, Ariko-chan…?"

"So...I think we should go back now…um…"

The three middle school students stood before a large murky, swamp.

"What are you talking about...um...what was your name again?" Kurumi asked sheepishly.

"Eh? Ah, I'm the Class Representative, Onohara Naoki, but everyone just calls me Iinchou."

"Really? Didn't Ren-kun call you Prez though…?"

"Ah, that's only Sawakiguchi-san. Personally, I think he's mocking me…"

"I see."

"Sawaki...how do you pronounce that, Iinchou?" Ariko asked, tipping her head. Her nekomimi twitched.

"Um...there's really nothing to it...but I really think we should go back now…"

"Oh, right, I was saying...what are you talking about, Onohara-kun? We've barely even gotten here! I haven't even seen anything of the woods yet!"

"Not to mention we haven't seen any kawaii creatures yet…" Ariko agreed.

Naoki sighed. "Very well then...should we continue across?"

Kurumi and Ariko both looked at him like he had grown another head.

"W-What? Did I say something wro-"

"You can't be serious," Kurumi decided finally, nodding to herself and facing the swamp. "I just got this school uniform today, it'd be such a waste to get it dirty."

"While I don't really like the uniform, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bottomless swamp or something…" Ariko mused, kneeling to feel the ground. "See, the ground's all squishy here. It must be even worse in there."

"I-I see…" Naoki was slightly amazed by their reasoning. "Then I can call for help-"

"No!"

"Definitely not."

And again, Naoki was startled by their immediate answer.

Kurumi frowned, her brows furrowing slightly as she thought. _I wish I could summon Kazu-kun...but no. He'd probably laugh at me anyway. And I can't summon Yui with Onohara-kun here...wait…_

She came to a solution.

"Yui, why don't you just come out and do it already?"

A moment of silence. Then-

"Aww, so Hime-chan knew~"

The pink-haired girl tumbled out of a bush from behind them (causing Naoki to yelp in surprise and accidentally fall into the mud), brushing leaves off her school uniform.

"Phooey~ And Yui thought she was doing a su~per good job hiding, too."

"Did you know?" Ariko looked at Kurumi skeptically.

Kurumi shrugged. "Just a hunch."

"T-Takino-san? What are you doing here?" Naoki stammered, bewildered as he pushed his glasses up and climbed to his feet, covered in mud.

"Yui followed you, ob~viously!"

One look from Kurumi made her change her answer.

"Ah, ah, Yui meant to say, ah, it's a coincidence, co~in~ci~dence!"

"That's even less believable, Yui…"

"Sorry, Hime-chan~!"

Yui stuck out her tongue playfully.

"But let's cross this bo~ttomless swamp, let's go!"

"But how will we-"

Naoki was again interrupted by the girls.

"Up we go!"

Yui's Gravity Alice flung them all in the air.

"Uwaaaah!"

And so, Naoki was joined by another super crazy girl.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Ren-sama, Takino joined them," Akemi reported, opening her eyes. Her originally hazel eyes had a glint of blue to them, almost looking as if her body was there but her mind wasn't. She spoke anyway, turning to look up at where Ren sat on the table and Yuuta on the chair next to him. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, whatever," Ren answered absently, staring out the window.

"I'm impressed that they were able to discern that there was a bottomless swamp, though," Yuuta commented. "There was barely anything to go off of."

"But Akemi's Alice really is amazing, isn't it?" One of the girls sitting next to Akemi giggled as she talked to her friend. "It's the first time I've seen it in action."

"Yeah, the Sight Control Alice that allows her to look through the eyes of someone else...but she's looking through Iinchou's eyes, right?" The other girl whispered. "I wonder what it's like to look through a boy's eyes…"

"Ew, yuck!" The first girl giggled.

Akemi slammed her fist into both of their heads. "It's not like I trade bodies or anything, idiots!"

"Uuu…" The girls rubbed their heads painfully.

Yuuta frowned, looking up from his book suddenly. "Ren? Is something wrong?"

Ren heaved a sigh, hopping down from the desktop as he headed towards the doorway. "Not really...I just feel irritated for some reason. There's somewhere I need to go, so I'll catch you later, Yuuta."

"Yeah…" Yuuta's voice trailed off as he watched his friend leave the classroom. He didn't miss the way Ren had called him by his full name and not the usual somewhat despised nickname "Yuu."

He had a bad feeling about this.

Then Akemi said some really bad words.

"Ah, they met Bear."

 **So this is today's second post! Cliffhanger! What do you think will happen? Kyaaa, now I'm tempted to post more! But I'll post the next chapter tomorrow. :) Drop in a review to let me know what you think of the chapter or what you think will happen next! (I would ask for ideas, but I've already written the next part T.T). Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed Kurumi and Ariko's usual antics (XD)!**

 **I have a question. This is my first time on this website, so there's something I'm confused about: the ratings. Right now it's rated T, but I'm wondering if I should rate it higher than that...right now, it's really cute and fluffy, but it goes, um, deeper than that. What kind of rating is killing and bloodshed? Can someone notify me in the reviews? Thanks!**

 **Chikage signing off for the day!**


	7. Chapter 7: The Northern Woods Trial

"What's that, what's that?" Kurumi's eyes lit up in excitement watching the stuffed bear carrying a broomstick and sweeping the ground. "It's su~per super cute!"

"Isn't it?!" Yui beamed. "Ah, but you don't really want to go near it."

"I-I-Isn't that…" Naoki backed away quickly.

"Yup, its name is Bear!" Yui smiled brightly.

"It is!" Naoki yelped fearfully.

"Can I pet it, Yui?" Kurumi looked at the stuffed animal longingly.

"No!" Then Yui thought. "Well, if Yui-"

There was a sudden rush of air, and they all turned.

"...Ah…"

Ariko went charging at the stuffed bear like a rampaging rhino, her eyes glinting dangerously.

"Ariko-chi!" Yui yelled.

"D-Don't, Kusakabe-san!" Naoki protested.

"Go, Ariko-chan!"

"Eh…?" Naoki looked at Kurumi. "Y-You don't know that bear! It's-"

"It's a bear, obviously," Kurumi said innocently. "Anyway, Ariko-chan can handle it."

"Yup, yup!" Yui nodded her head confidently.

Bear dropped the broomstick and pulled a punch on the cat girl-

 _Swish._

Ariko reflexively moved her head to the left, the punch hitting her hair.

 _Swat. Swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat swat._

Ariko moved in a blur, dodging the lightning fast punches at lightning fast speeds. She still had her usual carefree face on, as if she didn't care that one punch would send her flying. Then she ducked a punch and pounced forward, grabbing Bear in a giant-well, a giant bear hug. No pun intended.

Even as she squeezed the stuffed animal half to death, Bear kept punching her in the face, though she gave no reaction to it despite her red cheek, and her hand ran across its head and ears.

"Kumomimi...Kumomimi so soft...Kumomimi…" She murmured, looking like she was in sweet bliss.

"See?" Kurumi beamed at Naoki. "No problem at all, no? Ariko-chan, Ariko-chan! I want to touch it too! I wanna touch it too!"

"Me too!" Yui cheered and raced down the hill, leaving Naoki standing there trembling.

Almost reluctantly, Bear stopped punching and looked at the cat girl with somewhat sparkling eyes. Then it smiled and put its small arms around the girl happily.

"So cu~te!" All three girls cooed.

"I wanna feel too!" Kurumi reached forward-

-and was met with a punch to the face.

"Ah." Kurumi dodged to the right, but this sudden action caused her to become clumsy on her feet and she yelped as she slipped and landed hard on the ground. "Ow! I mean, I'm fine! Don't worry!"

"Hime-chan!" Yui exclaimed as she rushed to help Kurumi to her feet.

Ariko released Bear, and her eyes glinted dangerously like a cat who had found its prey. She held up her hand and her nails sharpened into claws. "Are you going to do that again?"

Bear felt the murderous aura extruding from the girl, looked down at the ground, and shook its head.

Then Ariko returned to normal and grabbed Bear in another giant bear hug, her nekomimi perked high and her tail swishing. "Love kumomimi…"

Kurumi and Yui quickly joined her in playing with the stuffed bear, who looked happier than it had been for a while.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Wha-no way!" Akemi protested, shooting to her feet as she slammed her hands on the table. "They actually tamed that Bear!"

"Ehhh, no way!" The two girls exclaimed.

" _That_ Bear…?"

"I thought they'd be done for for sure…"

"That's just not possible!"

"And it's only been a few minutes since they met…"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Tch, I'm really irritated now…" Ren said in annoyance, clicking his tongue as he brushed his hair out of his eyes. He slammed his fist into a tree nearby, causing it to shake and several leaves to flutter to the ground.

"I can't clear the blood behind my eyes…"

"Ren."

Startled, Ren turned when his name was called suddenly. "Yuuta."

"What's the matter?" Yuuta asked as he headed over. "You've been acting kind of strangely."

"Is that so?" Ren shrugged nonchalantly. "It's nothing really."

" _Ren!_ "

Ren looked away at his sudden sharp tone, and sighed. "I have a headache. That's all. And I'm really irritated…"

"I see." Yuuta sighed. "No wonder you told them to go to the Northern Woods. But-" He looked up and realized the person he was talking to had suddenly disappeared.

"Ren…?"

"This is bad, Fujitome-kun!"

Startled, Yuuta turned around when a girl in his class ran up to him. "Ishigawa-san...is something the matter?"

"Giant Piyo escaped again!"

"Again…?"

Yuuta sighed. _Looks like I don't have time to worry about Ren, huh…_

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"I-It's Giant Piyo!" Naoki yelped, stumbling backwards. "How did it get out again...and it's time for its lunch too! It's probably hungry!"

"Hungry?" Ariko's nekomimi perked up. "Did you say food? Taiyaki?"

"Um...why are you associating food directly with taiyaki…?" Naoki stammered sheepishly.

"Obviously because taiyaki is food," Ariko's eyes sparkled.

"I-I see...but no one would have any-"

"Ah, sorry, I forgot. Here, Ariko-chan!"

A strawberry jam-flavored taiyaki was thrown to the girl, who immediately caught it in her mouth, grabbing with both hands and taking a bite of the head.

"Where did you pull that from…?"

"Hm? The Giant Vacuum Bag, of course."

"I see...no, actually, I don't see."

"Anyway, Yui rea~lly su~per super like Giant Piyo! It's the mutation chick that the Somatic Class is keeping, you see~" Yui explained. "Giant Piyo knows Yui, too!"

"Really?! Let's go say hello!" Kurumi's golden eyes lit up enthusiastically.

"S-Say what?!" Naoki sputtered.

"But it's su~per hungry right now, so it might not recognize a~ny of us," Yui commented.

"That's fine, that's fine!"

"Okay if Hime-chan says so~"

"Ah...ah….M-Miyano-san, Kusakabe-san, Takino-san!"

"Kurumi's fine, Onohara-kun!" Kurumi called as she waved, running backwards.

"Be careful, Hime-chan-"

"Kyaaa!"

As expected, she tripped and fell flat on her face.

"Uwaaah, Hime-chan, are you okay?!"

"Don't worry! I'm fine!"

"Kurumi…clumsy…"

"Hm?"

"Nothing...taiyaki."

"Say, Ariko-chi, what made Hime-chan suddenly want to come to Gakuen Alice?" Yui asked Ariko curiously as they headed down the hill towards the giant chick.

"Not sure," Ariko shrugged, her tail swishing.

"So you don't know ei~their?" Yui sighed. "Guess really only Aka-chan kno~ws~"

"Mm," Ariko's head bobbed, chewing on taiyaki thoughtfully. "I asked her, but she told me it was classified-"

"Kyaaaaaaa!" _Oomph!_

"-information," Ariko finished, turning around to watch Kurumi trip and run head-first into the giant fluffy chick. "I think we shouldn't have left her alone."

"I agree," Yui said sheepishly as she quickly ran down to check on Kurumi. "Hime-chan, you okay?!"

"I'm fine…"

Kurumi mumbled this with her face buried in the soft yellow fur, her face one of sweet bliss.

"It's soft…~"

"Oh…Yui wanna too!"

"I think we should run."

"Piyo!" With a squeak, Giant Piyo knocked all of them aside.

Kurumi landed on the ground in a rather lady-like way, blinking and standing quickly. "I'm fine!"

On the other hand, Yui landed on her face. "Owie! Piyo-chan's angry!"

Ariko shook her head, landing nimbly on her feet. "No, it's hungry."

Yui thought and giggled, sticking out her tongue. "Oh, right, Yui said that~ Anyway, forget that-"

The hyper pink-haired girl grabbed the other two by the collar and sprinted back up the hill of the Northern Woods while being chased by a giant angry pecking mutated chick.

"We're de~finitely running~"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"U-Um!" Naoki yelled as they ran away from Giant Piyo. "Shouldn't we head back now? It should be okay to head back to the school! I'll talk to Sawakiguchi-"

"Who were you going to talk to?"

They all skidded to a stop in surprise when Ren suddenly appeared in front of them, dropping down from a tree. His violet eyes, which not long ago held a look of mischief, were now dark and ice cold. He had his left hand in the pocket of the blue school uniform and his right dangled carelessly in the air under his silver earring.

"S-Sawakiguchi-san!" Naoki yelped in surprise.

"Ren-kun!" Yui sounded equally surprised. "Ah, wait, if we stop now, then Giant Piyo will-"

"It's not going anywhere."

"...Eh?" All four middle school students whirled around.

"Piyo! Piyo! Piyo! Piyo!"

Though Giant Piyo still took the same giant steps while running through the woods, it wasn't moving anywhere and stayed in one place as it ran, as if on a giant treadmill. The giant chick looked extremely confused as it continued trying to run to them, tears pouring in its eyes.

"See?" Ren flicked his hand at it, proving his point.

"S-Sawakiguchi-san-you couldn't have-!" Naoki protested loudly.

"It won't die," Ren said coldly and carelessly. "More importantly, I'll come out and say it. I want to know your Alice."

"Me…?" Kurumi pointed at herself when he looked directly at her.

"Who else?" He walked over slowly, but Yui quickly held out her arm to block his path as she stepped between him and Kurumi.

"What do you want, Ren?" Yui asked quietly but in a firm voice. She dropped the honorific, and her eyes were narrowed sharply.

Naoki was again surprised by the way this girl changed when it came to Kurumi. _...They definitely know each other…_ He had no choice but to come to this conclusion.

Ren stopped, also a little startled, but got a nonchalant look on his face just as fast. "Who knows? My head hurts, and I'm a little irritated. I can't think straight. But I do know that it isn't everyday someone gets _direct orders_ from the academy to not reveal their Alice. This is an Alice school, after all. So you could say I'm curious. Why don't you tell me? What your Alice is."

His violet eyes glittered dangerously, making Yui shiver slightly, and he had a mischievous but also somewhat dark smile on his face.

 _I wonder what happened to Ren-kun…_

She thought this to herself worriedly. But her fuchsia eyes narrowed sharply.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but there's one thing I'm certain of."

In her solemnity, she dropped her habit of referring to herself in third person, but reclaimed it when she declared confidently,

"Even if it's you, Ren-kun, Yui will ne~ver let you touch Hime-chan!"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Oi, Ruka! Where are you going?"

Yawning, Kazu floated through the air and followed the blond boy carrying a rabbit when he had suddenly turned around and started walking in the other direction.

"Just because Natsume's gone for the time being doesn't mean you can go and ditch me you know."

His face flushing slightly, Ruka whirled around to face the flying boy. "That's not it!"

Kazu laughed, shrugging his shoulders as he landed on the ground. "It was a joke, a joke. So what's up?"

"I'm sensing something's wrong from the Northern Woods," he said anxiously, glancing over. "It sounds like Giant Piyo…"

Kazu laughed again. "Ah, right, Ruka's an animal boy."

Ruka's face flushed red again. "S-Stop it already, Kazu!"

"Oi."

"Natsume," Ruka looked up in surprise when the crimson-eyes boy dropped down from a nearby tree.

"Oh? You're back already?" Kazu whistled.

Natsume ignored him, looking at Ruka. "Ignore it. Let's go."

"Ah...right…" Ruka quickly hurried after him, although slightly reluctantly.

"Come on, don't just ignore me the moment you get back."

Kazu lifted in the air using a well-controlled vacuum under his feet, following the boys back towards the elementary school. But he'd barely gone five meters when he turned back around midair to look at where Giant Piyo could barely be seen in the Northern Woods.

 _I hope Ojou hasn't gotten herself into any trouble..._

"Kazu?" Ruka called out. Natsume had stopped as well, looking annoyed as the two of them waited for him.

Kazu shrugged and flew back over to them, laughing and landing next to them. "So you've finally decided you'll miss me?"

"Shut up," Natsume said as he stormed off.

Kazu laughed.

 _I'm probably thinking too much into it._

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

 _Bam!_

Yui slid across the ground, leaving a trail of steam from the friction of her boots against the grass, and bit her lip as she watched Ren walk out of the smoke unharmed. "Tch. What an annoying Alice. Yui doesn't like it."

Ren shrugged. "I guess you could say that."

"Uwaaah, Takino, Sawakiguchi, please stop it…" Naoki insisted, though Yui immediately leaped at Ren again. "Wait…!"

"Onohara-kun."

"H-Hurry and help me stop them, Miyano-san!" Naoki insisted, turning to Kurumi when she said his name. "At this rate-"

Kurumi ignored him. "Tell me something."

Naoki stopped panicking and blinked at Kurumi's calm but commanding tone. "Yes…?"

"What is it? Ren-kun's Alice."

"Oh…" Naoki looked down hesitantly. "Ren-kun is a...special case. He's the only Dangerous Ability Type in our class."

Kurumi's eyes flashed. "Dangerous…"

"Yes," Naoki nodded. "I myself didn't really think that it's a dangerous Alice, but I've heard rumors...I-I don't want to be one to spread rumors, but I've heard stories that he's actually killed someone with his Alice before."

"Killed…" Kurumi's gaze lowered, but she didn't look particularly surprised.

"Sawakiguchi-san has...what they call the Distance Alice."

"Distance Alice?" Ariko blinked in confusion, finishing the tail of her taiyaki.

"Yes," Naoki nodded. "He is able to modify the distance between any two objects, places, or anything of the sort, be it making it longer or shorter. For example, in the case with both Giant Piyo and Komai-sensei, he lengthened the distance between us and them so that they seem like they aren't even moving when they walk. When he jumped from the classroom earlier today, he shortened the distance between himself and the floor. That kind of stuff."

"Oh…" Kurumi's voice trailed off as she stared at Ren, who was easily deflecting all of Yui's Gravity Attacks. "I see…"

"Oh, right, right…"

Easily brushing off Yui, Ren turned around to where Kurumi, Ariko, and Naoki were standing. His violet eyes glittered.

"It was you, wasn't it…"

Yui appeared in front of Ren, her hands outstretched protectively. "Don't you dare, Ren-kun! Yui won't let you!"

"Ah, you're getting annoying~" Ren brushed her hand across towards her face. Yui saw this coming and tried to dodge-

The attack came faster than she expected. She didn't even make a noise as the back of his hand connected with her cheek and she was sent flying across the woods. She quickly used her Alice to lighten the gravity, allowing herself to float in the air before she hit anything.

"Hime-chan!" She yelled as Ren brought back his fist. Even though they were nearly 15m apart, she knew that with Ren's Alice, he could easily hit her from where he stood.

But the one Ren hit wasn't Kurumi.

"Sorry about this, Prez, but the one I'm trying to hit isn't you."

His fist connected and Onohara Naoki was sent flying.

"Ah…"

And at the same time, a bright green signal flare was sent up into the air.

 **Yaayyy so we got past meeting Bear and Giant Piyo! Giant Piyo sure likes to run away, huh? Or rather, I guess I should say the middle schoolers are rather careless~ Ah, also, one thing I'm really excited about: I'm drawing a cover for the story featuring Kurumi, Ariko, Yui, and Akemi! It's turning out really nicely! I've got most of the lineart done (so this cover right now is temporary.) I was going to draw Ren and Yuuta instead of Yui and Akemi, but I've only drawn boys twice so I really can't after all~ But wish me luck! I'll post the next chapter as well!**

 **:** Thanks thanks thanks so much for reviewing! You don't know how much it means to me~ But don't worry, I'm just happy to be writing and posting. (I mainly write for my little sister, so I will keep writing). I'll keep trying my hardest to keep my chapters up to your expectations! (owo)

 **The rest of you please R/R as well if you like it!**

 **One last note I'm adding last minute: I just realized all of my squiggly line (~) interruption breaks aren't showing up, so I'm now changing the line break to the cute little {** ('^') Time Skip ('^') **}. It's labeled with the words "Time Skip" even if it isn't a Time Skip but a...Location Shift, I guess...instead, so just note that. I'll post this on the first chapter as well. Sorry, it might make more sense now if you go back and read it. Thanks!**

 **~Chikage**


	8. Chapter 8: The Northern Woods Trial II

_Clatter crash!_

Inside the classroom, Akemi suddenly fell down on the floor.

"Oww…" She winced, rubbing her head as she climbed to her feet slowly. As she did, she look to her left out the window to see the bright green line rising out of the Northern Woods.

"So Iinchou used his Alice…" One of her friends murmured.

"Hmph! Talk about a useless Alice," The other girl snorted.

"What happened, Akemi?" The first girl asked anxiously. "You just fell over all of a sudden…"

"Oh, right, there's no time for that!" Akemi insisted, grabbing her by the shoulders. Her hazel eyes had lost the blue tint she had had while using her Alice. "Where's Yuuta-sama?"

"Yuuta-sama?" The girl blinked. "He left with Ren-sama a while ago, and I had him help me put Giant Piyo back in its pen, but now I'm not…"

"Is something the matter?"

"Yuuta-sama!" Akemi turned when the boy in question walked inside, rushing over quickly.

"I've told you before not to call me-"

Akemi interrupted Yuuta. "There's no time for that-it's really bad!"

"Did something happen with the transfer students?" Yuuta frowned.

"Yeah-Ren-sama's there!"

"Ren?" Yuuta was clearly startled and bothered by this. "Why is he…?"

"I don't know, but he was acting kind of strange," Akemi looked worried. "He just suddenly showed up and said to Miyano that he wanted to know her Alice-and then he and Takino started fighting-and he even knocked out Iinchou to keep me from watching-hey, Yuuta-sama?!"

She broke off with a protest when Yuuta turned around and raced out of the classroom before she even finished.

 _I knew something was wrong with Giant Piyo, but I never thought-I have to hurry! Please hang on, Ren!_

He looked out the window at Naoki's green signal flare and headed in that direction as fast as he could go.

 _Ren!_

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

Komai-sensei sat inside her room in her usual sloppy clothes now that she was off work, brushing her hair out of her face and reading a new magazine. "Sheesh, that Sawakiguchi makes work so tiring every single day… I guess I must've walked at least a marathon today."

Just then, as she flipped the page of the magazine, the door was opened and the face of a blond-haired brown-eyed female teacher peeked inside. "Excuse me. Komai-sensei, yes?"

"Yamada-sensei?" Komai-sensei sat up, dropping her magazine on the ground and sitting up while gesturing for the other teacher to sit next to her. "First Narumi-sensei and now you, why are all the elementary school teachers coming here?"

"I simply had to clarify something," Yamada-sensei answered calmly, pulling in her skirt as she sat, setting her crystal ball on the table and placing her hands around it. "Are you aware of what's going on inside the Northern Woods right now?"

"Northern Woods?" Komai-sensei echoed with a sigh. "Beats me...there shouldn't be anyone there though, right?"

"As I thought, you aren't," Yamada-sensei remarked. "Look at this."

Komai-sensei's eyes widened when she saw the images of Ren attacking Yui and Naoki flash through the crystal. Then her gaze hardened and she bit her lip, standing quickly and crossing the room to snatch a jacket off a coat hanger, pulling it around her tank top and doing one button. "That Sawakiguchi is making trouble again…" She looked outside the window and saw the green smoke in the sky. "Must be Onohara's Signal Flare Alice. Yamada-sensei, I'm going out."

"Yeah, take care," Yamada-sensei nodded as she stood up.

Komai-sensei stormed out the door down the hallway, grumbling to herself. "When I see that boy, I'm going to give him a smack upside the-"

"Komai-sensei."

"Narumi-sensei?" Komai-sensei looked startled when the male teacher suddenly appeared next to her. "What do you want? I'm busy-"

"When you see him, that boy," Narumi-sensei said quietly, purple eyes downcast on the ground, "please go easy on him."

Komai-sensei sighed and looked aside irritably, brushing her long hair out of her eyes. "...I know."

Then the homeroom teacher of Classroom A stalked towards the Northern Woods.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Say, Akashi, you know, don't you?" Sonata asked softly as she sat on a bench next to the boy, kicking her legs and staring up at the sky.

"Hm?" Akashi looked over from where he was scanning through a couple of papers to face her.

Sonata lowered her head to face him curiously, her straight hair bouncing off her shoulder. "The reason why the young lady decided to come to Gakuen Alice."

Akashi turned his head back down to the papers, flipping through it absently. "...Yeah."

"Can you tell me?"

"...Sorry, it's not in my position to say."

"I see," Sonata sighed, stretching. "Well, I saw that coming. Our young lady is a temperamental but careful person after all."

"Yeah, she is."

"But I guess that's one of her rather redeeming qualities," Sonata giggled to herself.

"Speaking of which, don't you have somewhere to be, Sonata?" Akashi asked suddenly, pushing up his glasses as he faced her.

"Ah, that's right!" Sonata hopped to her feet. "I totally forgot!"

"Sonata! What are you doing?!" A voice from the distance called, and Sonata turned to see her friends standing there. "We're going now!"

"Hurry up!"

"I'm coming!" Sonata waved back before turning to Akashi and smiling, "Well, thanks for that, _Sengoku-senpai._ "

Akashi simply nodded his head before watching the high school girl run towards her friends cheerily.

"Sorry, sorry!" She said with a laugh.

"Isn't that Sengoku-senpai?" A girl whispered.

"Eh? No way! What were the two of you doing?"

"Just talking. Come on, let's go!"

"Ehhh! Tell us, Sonata!"

The girls hurried away.

Akashi sighed and returned to reviewing the papers in his hands, signing something with a fountain pen. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a green flash in the distance and frowned at it, removing his reading glasses. "Someone's in the Northern Woods? I suppose I should report this to-"

He stopped abruptly.

"Don't tell me she…"

He reached up to the small Bluetooth-like device on his ear and flipped a switch.

"Sengoku-senpai!"

A younger girl ran up to him, holding a notebook in her hands. She looked shy.

"Um...if you don't mind, could you maybe…umm, is something the matter?"

She broke off suddenly, startled when Akashi suddenly shot to his feet, scattering the papers he had been working on earlier all over the ground.

"This is bad...sorry, Kashinagi-san," he said to the girl after murmuring the first part to himself worriedly. "Something came up. I'll help you when I get back, okay?"

"U-Un," the girl nodded slowly and watched him run off. "I wonder what that was about…"

Akashi made his way towards the Northern Woods. "The lady's got herself in some more trouble again…"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"He's serious," Ariko noted as she continued nibbling on her taiyaki in a rather carefree way. She glanced over at the passed out Class Representative lying on the ground. "He's really serious."

"I can tell," Kurumi agreed with a nod, worriedly watching Yui cat fight with Ren. "I can tell by his eyes...he has the intent to kill." Her golden eyes stared straight into Ren's ice cold violet ones fearlessly before she broke away and looked down at her hand. "I'm almost certain that his hands are no longer clean."

"Mm," Ariko's head bobbed.

"Hime-chan, look out!"

"Huh?" Kurumi blinked, looking up from her outstretched hand to see Ren's fist shoot towards her from a distance. Yui had somehow gotten herself tangled in a tree and was unable to move, but she managed to yell out a warning.

Instinctively, Kurumi pulled both of her hands back, one hand in a fist and resting on top of her open palm. Her golden eyes narrowed and her hands flashed a bright blue blue-

 _Paakk!_

A shape flashed in front of her and she blinked, releasing her hands and the light as she stood up straighter.

"Aka-chan…"

"You musn't, my lady," Akashi said coolly, his arms held in a defensive block in front of his face to deflect Ren's attack. "It would be bad for you to reveal yourself on the first day."

"Right…" Kurumi looked away guiltily.

"Aka-chan!" Yui cried in relief as she dropped from the tree, leaves and branches ensnared in her pink hair.

"Sengoku-senpai? From the high school division?" Ren frowned, picking up a rock from the ground and tossing it up and down in his hand absently. "What are you doing here? Ah, ah, I see. You have some relationship with that girl, don't you? Well don't get in my way!"

The rock was pitched through the air at full speed. It must have gone at least 150 km/h, as he lengthened the distance for more impact and then shortened it for a faster hit. It was a very skillful use of his Alice.

Akashi noticed it coming and brought back his fist to intercept it-

The rock stopped abruptly and thudded straight into the ground, creating a small dent on the floor as it cracked open and shattered like glass. Yui stood there with one hand outstretched and the other on her hip, fuchsia eyes glittering.

"That kind of trick won't work with me around!" Yui said confidently. "Actually, Aka-chan, run next time or you'll be seriously injured. You're lucky I was here to use my Gravity Ring."

Gravity Ring. The attack Yui had named off of her Alice, where the pressure of gravity was increased around or on an object so much that it could crack the ground and not only force a person to the ground but also even kill them with the pressure.

"I suppose you're right," Akashi conceded.

"Tch," Ren hit his lip and flicked the other rock at them lightly, but this was also easily deflected by Yui's Gravity Ring. "Hmm~ I guess this'll be more interesting than I thought."

As he brought back his fist-

"Ren! Stop!"

Yuuta emerged from the trees, breathless and panting.

Ren turned. "Oh, Yuu. Sup?"

"Stop it already, Ren…" Yuuta panted, wiping a drop of sweat from his chin as he stood up. "This isn't like you!"

"What isn't? What do you mean?" Ren's hand closed in a fist, slightly flashing gold from the use of his Alice. "What do you even know about me, Yuu?"

"That's…" Yuuta jerked back, startled by his hostility.

"That's enough…"

They all turned in surprise when Kurumi spoke, her hand clenched in a fist and her shoulders trembling in anger.

"Hime-chan-"

" _That's enough!_ "

"Hang on-Kurumi-" Akashi tried to protest, but Kurumi stormed past him and straight up to Ren.

"Kurumi's an~gry…." Ariko mumbled, looking around for taiyaki.

"Wait-Miyano!" Yuuta protested.

Ren's violet eyes flickered in amusement before hardening again as he tightened his fist.

Kurumi raised her hand.

 _Slap!_

This left everyone in a stunned silence as Kurumi brought her hand across and smacked him in the cheek as hard as she could.

"I've had enough of your selfishness!" She yelled. "My Alice? It's not like I could tell you even if I wanted to! This school...this place...it's supposed to be a place where people with special abilities gather to enjoy themselves and socialize! I want to be a part of that too….well, that's nothing more than a selfish dream. I'm not going to go around picking fights like you are to satisfy my own frustration. Open your eyes already! The world isn't always going to go the way you want it to!"

Ren flinched a little, but gave her an amused smile. "Are you lecturing me?"

Kurumi blinked and shook her head briskly, her ponytails flying. "Nope. I'm just venting my anger. You don't really have to listen to what I say, but I'd appreciate it if you did." She pulled at the edges of her blue plaid skirt and curtsied politely. "Have a good day, Ren-kun. I'll see you around."

She turned around and ran towards her friends, kneeling next to Naoki with a somewhat worried face.

Ren sighed and shrugged, dropping his hand and tucking it back in his pocket. "What a weird girl…" He turned around and started back into the trees of the woods, sighing irritably.

"Ren, are you okay?" Yuuta chased after him anxiously.

"Yeah, fine," Ren shrugged. "Sorry to worry you."

"No, it's okay…" Yuuta let out a breath of relief. "So should we head back to the classroom?"

"No, there's somewhere else I need to be, so I'll catch you later," Ren waved absently, and before Yuuta knew it he had vanished from where he stood.

Yuuta sighed. _Ren…_

He jogged back to the middle school by himself.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

 _Clap. Clap. Clap._

Akashi stiffened when a clapping sound rang out, moving to stand in front of Kurumi the same time Yui did, but Kurumi held out her hand to stop both of them.

Ariko's nekomimi twitched, and she sniffed the air. "It's Komai-sensei."

"Sensei?" Kurumi repeated. "Oh. Aka-chan, I think you should go now."

"But-"

"Thanks," Kurumi nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be more careful."

Akashi hesitated but nodded. "All right." He slipped into the woods and headed back towards the high school.

"Speaking of which, why didn't Ariko-chi do anything against Ren-kun?" Yui asked the cat girl curiously.

She got a blink and another twitch of the nekomimi. "Obviously because I was still eating my taiyaki at the time. I had no free hands."

"...And your legs?" Yui tipped her head as Komai-sensei came into view.

Ariko shrugged. "Too lazy mrrow."

"To~tally understandable~" Yui chirped.

"You handled that situation splendidly," Komai-sensei complimented, though sweat dropping at Ariko's comment. "And I rather enjoyed your speech. It seems like I was worried for nothing...I'll take care of Onohara. You should head back to the school."

As Komai-sensei knelt next to Naoki, Ariko turned to Kurumi suspiciously. "Kurumi...that speech…"

"Hm?" Kurumi turned with a bright beam.

"You sure spouted a series of lies…"

"Eh…" Komai-sensei looked startled, turning to the golden-eyed girl in question, who had turned her head to look down at the ground with a shadow covering her face. "Miyano-"

Kurumi laughed, spinning around to face them. "Can't fool you, Ariko-chan. Come on, let's go!"

"Mmkay," Ariko bobbed her head and ran after the girl.

"Wait for Yui!" Yui cheered.

"Kurumi...don't run…"

"Kyaa!"

"I told you so…"

"I'm fine! While we're here, let's enjoy ourselves to the fullest, shall we?"

"...Boring…"

"Ariko-chan! Here, taiyaki."

"I mean...let's do that, Kurumi."

"Mmhmm!"

And thus began Miyano Kurumi and Kusakabe Ariko's new school life in Gakuen Alice.

 **...And thus, the Northern Woods Trial is over! (From now on, I'll probably just title my chapters Part I and Part II or just put the title twice if it doesn't fit). Kyaaa, things are just getting heated up! (Well, not really...) What did you think of Ren's character? I tried hard to make it more unique from Natsume's "dangerous" kind of thing but kind of the same thing at the same time...you know what I mean? If you liked, please R &R! Put a smile on this author's face for the day! :) (This author who got back from a super exhausting tennis tryout, really).**

 **Chikage signing off for the day!**


	9. Chapter 9: Ranking System of Stars

" _Noooo_ , stop! Don't! Keep that away from me!"

Ariko woke up sleepily to the sound of Kurumi yelling, her nekomimi flicking in annoyance. "Nnn...Kurumi, too loud…" She opened the door to her room sleepily, still in her nightgown and her blond hair tied into two low ponytails similar to Kurumi's for comfort. She yawned tiredly and headed one door down over to Kurumi's room.

Just as she put her hand on the door knob, another girl came down the hallway sleepily. "Oh? Ariko? Who's yelling?"

"Misaki…" Ariko's ear twitched as her mouth opened in a huge yawn. "Nn Kurumi's being noisy…"

Ariko pulled open the door-

-and was immediately met by a pillow to her face.

"Ku...ru...mi…"

"Sorry, Ariko-chan!"

Kurumi, dressed in her lacey nightgown and her long hair in two braids, pushed past Ariko, ducking out the door and bolting for the stairs.

"Come back here, Hime-chan!" Yui demanded, flying after her using her lessened gravity hold. "Yui was tasked by Aka-chan to do this! It's not like Yui wants to either!" In her hand was a small calligraphy-type brush dripping in black ink. Whenever the ink fell on the ground, the black spot only sizzled and faded immediately.

Misaki inspected the ground curiously. "This is-!"

"Mm, probably Alice-restraint ink...it's a relatively new invention…" Ariko rubbed her eyes sleepily and yawned, her tail batting back and forth in the air. "I'm sleepy...I'm going back to sleep."

"Yeah, me too," Misaki yawned as well and headed back to her room.

"Hyaaa- _oomph_!"

"H-Hime-chan!" Yui cried out when Kurumi fell down the stairs halfway down, landing hard on the floor. "Are you o-I mean, sorry Hime-chan, but you won't get away now!"

Before Kurumi knew it, a Gravity Ring had spread around where she sat and she stiffened. "Eh-ehh? Come on, Yui!"

"No!" Even though Yui's hand trembled, she didn't give in.

"Then if I order you too?"

Yui's pink ponytail swung as she shook her head. "No~ way! Yui have to do this no ma~tter what!"

Kurumi sighed. "Fine, make it fast…" She held out her hand.

Yui nodded and brought the brush across her arm in quick, fast strokes, painting a tattoo-like design. At times Kurumi winced and clenched her dress, but she said nothing else.

Yui finished the tattoo and stepped back with a smile. "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Kurumi sighed, lowering her arm and shaking her hand as if to make sure it was still intact. "I guess...but I really don't like having a random tattoo on my arm after all!"

As she watched her lady start wailing in the middle of the hallway, Yui hurried to comfort her. "N-Now, now, Hime-chan, your school uniform will hide it anyway...and, and, and Yui has a pair of gloves too if Hime-chan wants it!"

Kurumi sulked but nodded. "All right…"

"Hey!"

"Nyaaa!" Yui let out a cat-like squeal when Komai-sensei suddenly came up to her. She ducked aside. "S-Sensei?!"

"What are you two doing up so early?" Komai-sensei demanded. "Also, Takino, where did you get-" Her face paled suddenly as she grabbed the brush. "Isn't this an Alice-sealing ink? Where did you get this? You can't have this in school!"

"Y-Yui sorry!" Yui exclaimed. "Yui didn't know-Yui got it from...no, I mean, Yui's sorry!"

"It's my fault, Sensei," Kurumi spoke up, and Komai-sensei looked down at her. The teacher's face looked down and her eyes went wide when she saw the tattoo on her arm.

"Wait-don't tell me you used it on her!" Komai-sensei protested. "Do you know what you did, Takino? This is almost like a punishment seal-you sealed her Alice!"

"It's only temporary," Yui insisted. "But still...Yui didn't want to do it either, you know!"

"Then you should know better-"

"Komai-sensei."

Komai-sensei flinched slightly at the dark undertone to Kurumi's voice, looking down. "W-What?"

"If you'd excuse me in advance, I must say this," Kurumi said softly, looking down at the tattoo. "Outsiders should just stay out of this."

"But no matter how you look at it, that's still-"

"Don't worry; something like this hardly bothers me," Kurumi climbed to her feet and dusted off her nightgown. "I guess you could call it a visual reminder. Well, I expected something like this after my slip up yesterday. Incidentally, did you need something, Sensei?"

"Oh, right," Komai-sensei dug inside her pocket and clipped a large Alice-restraint bracelet to her other hand.

"...Huh?" Kurumi blinked. "This is-"

"The higher-ups told me to give it to you," Komai-sensei replied. "As well as this…"

She held out her hand and revealed a small star resting on her palm. It wasn't a normal gold star, however, as it was circumscribed inside a red circle.

"N-No way!" Yui sputtered. "Is that a Special star? Amazing! Yui has never actually seen one before! You really are amazing, Hime-chan!"

"Hm? Special...hm?" Kurumi tipped her head in confusion.

"Oh, yeah, Hime-chan's still new…" Yui sighed.

Kurumi thought. "Oh, right, I thought I vaguely remember Aka-chan promising me he'd get me the highest star ranking...say, Yui, what's a star ranking?"

"A star ranking is-" Yui broke off from the middle of her solemn explanation at the sight of the time on Komai-sensei's wristwatch. "Ahh, there's no time! Yui will explain it to you in class, so let's hurry and get dressed!"

"W-Wai-Yui!" Kurumi's protests were left unheard as Yui lessened the gravity to force the girl up the stairs by floating.

"Since Sona-chi isn't here, I'll help you get changed, so let's hurry!"

"Yui-I can get changed by myself!"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Hey, hey, Miyano-san, Kusakabe-san, did you really take on Bear?"

"What? No way! That Bear?!"

"It's just a joke, right?"

"No, it's all true! That Akemi saw it through the eyes of Iinchou!"

"Ew, that's kinda nasty~"

"How did you do it?"

"Ne, ne, tell us!"

"Erm...well…" Kurumi stammered sheepishly, taking half a step back. The moment she and Ariko had walked into the room, they had been bombarded by curious students with pressing questions about the trial in the Northern Woods.

"Move aside! Move aside please! Clear a path for Hime-chan! Don't push now!"

Yui pushed through the other students, clearing a gap in the crowd to allow Kurumi and Ariko to pass through and into the classroom.

"If you don't, Yui will send you flying using Yui's Alice!"

"D-Don't do that, Yui!" Kurumi insisted.

"It was a joke," Yui stated matter-of-factly, and Kurumi let out a breath of relief.

"What are you doing, Takino?" A girl demanded.

"Yeah, yeah! What do you think you are, her bodyguard or something?"

"You bet Yui is!" Yui said proudly.

"Yui..."

"W-wait, Yui didn't mean it that way, Hime-chan-"

"Yui...owe me taiyaki…"

"Huh?! Hang on a sec, Ariko-chi! Why does Yui owe you taiyaki?!"

"Just cause…"

"That's not a reason…! Well, whatever. Hime-chan, I'm borrowing the GVB!"

"GVB?" Kurumi tilted her head, and then Yui's hand suddenly vanished into space before she pulled out a taiyaki. "Ah, the Giant Vacuum Bag. Do what you like with it; it's technically Ka...I mean, I don't mind."

"Great! Here, Ariko-chi!"

Ariko's green eyes lit up and she grabbed the taiyaki dangling in front of her with such ferocity that everyone stepped back instinctively. Then she snapped off the head easily, though dropping crumbs on the floor, and chewed the bread with a look of bliss on her face.

"Aw, Ariko-chi kawaiii~" Yui squealed, stroking Ariko's nekomimi and earning a purr of satisfaction.

 _Wham!_

The door behind them slammed open suddenly, causing them all (besides Ariko, happily eating her taiyaki and swishing her tail) to jerk suddenly.

"Hey, Ren…"

Ren and Yuuta stood behind the doors.

A hush spread over the room immediately, and people began to whisper to each other loudly, glancing at them suspiciously. Yui instinctively pushed Kurumi behind her, holding out her arm protectively with her eyes narrowed.

"Ren-sama, good morning!" Akemi called loudly and cheerfully amidst the whispers.

"Ah, ah, it's so loud this early in the morning," Ren yawned as he entered the room with Yuuta right behind him, and the crowd parted for him. "What a pain~"

"Wait a-Ren!" Yuuta protested.

Ren ignored him, spotting Kurumi standing behind Yui and Ariko looking over curiously, her mouth stuffed with taiyaki and her mouth covered with crumbs. "Oh? If it isn't the two new monkeys. Sorry about yesterday."

He said this nonchalantly, as if it had only been some small-scale incident.

"You-" Yui started.

"Oh, no, I believe it should be I who apologizes," Kurumi curtsied, and Yui stepped aside reluctantly. "My sincerest apologies. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Ren shrugged, heading to the back of the room and hopping up to sit on the table. "I deserved at least that much."

Yuuta just sighed and sat down next to him (although actually in the chair), pulling out a book and opening it up to a bookmarked page.

"Hey, you, just what exactly did you do to Ren-sama?" Akemi demanded, storming down the hallway with her arms crossed and her two friends right behind her.

"Hm? Oh, I slapped him," Kurumi answered with a somewhat cheerful smile. "It was a spur of the moment thing."

At this, the entire crowd backed away from her as if she carried some kind of deadly virus.

"You-what?!" Akemi sputtered. "That's crazy! You insolent little-! Stop acting so bigshot for someone who's star ranking hasn't even been-" She broke off abruptly when she looked down on Kurumi's uniform collar, where she had pinned the special star badge. "Wh-Whaaaat?!" She sputtered in shock. "A Special Star?! I don't believe this! Ren-sama, she didn't steal yours, did she?!"

"Hm?" Ren glanced over, and then lifted his uniform collar for them to see the same red circled star. "No, I have mine."

"Then why-but how-but why-?!" Akemi sputtered. Her own uniform collar consisted of only two stars.

"Oh, yeah, I've been meaning to ask Yui about that," Kurumi remembered. "Komai-sensei gave it to me, but I don't really understand how it all works yet."

"Oh! Yui can do this much!" Yui chirped. She skipped up to the chalk board and picked up the chalk, drawing a simple diagram. "Gakuen Alice's Star Ranking System! The deciding factors vary from your Alice, your grades, your behavior, etc, etc. There's a lot that goes into it."

"So that's why you couldn't have just-"

"Mouth shut," Yui demanded to Akemi before turning back to Kurumi and tapping the chalk on the four layers of the pyramid she had drawn. "Anyway, Hime-chan, there's five different levels. There's the bottom most level, a no star, that gets really close to nothing, and has to do a lot of the chores. Nearly no one has that rank now."

Looking around, both the new girls realized that the entire class had at least one star on their uniform.

"The one just above that is the one star, a Single," Yui continued. "Their facilities are simple, but usable. Most of the kids in this group are ones with both troublesome Alices and troublesome attitudes. Most of the time."

A chorus of "Heyyy!"s were heard amongst the Singles in the class. Hiroshi Arata snarled, his uniform consisting of only one star.

"Mouths shut, you know it's true," Yui ordered. "And I said most of them. Moving on, the one above that is two stars, Doubles. They are the ones with mostly good behaviors and good grades-though there are exceptions like Miss What's-Her-Face there."

"Excuse me?!" Akemi sputtered.

"Incidentally, Iinchou and Yui are also Doubles," Yui went on. "Komai-sensei said I have a troublesome mouth, and Iinchou's Alice is a little too useless. That's why he's stuck at two stars."

"S-Sorry about that…" Naomi stuttered, his face flushing.

"And above that is the Triples," Yui went on. "There's a number of them, but not a lot. Triples do no chores, get one of the best rooms and meals and facilities and stuff. Basically, the elites. The students here typically do something good enough to be promoted or are just good students in general. If you didn't know, Yuuta-kun's a Triple."

"He is?" Ariko looked at Yuuta skeptically.

Yuuta overheard and scowled, looking up from his book. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ariko caught sight of the three stars on his uniform collar and turned her head swiftly, holding onto her taiyaki with both hands. "Nothing. She said 'good things or good students,' after all." She mumbled this last part to herself, but Kurumi heard and giggled.

Then she remembered and turned back to Yui. "So a Special is…"

"Right, the elite of the elites!" Yui said solemnly. "Rarely anyone gets a Special Star. Coincidentally, most are from the Dangerous Ability Class, but Yui wouldn't know anything about that. There's only one Special Star in the elementary school division that Yui knows of and it's Hyuuga Natsume-kun...that kid with the Fire Alice, I'm pretty sure...but either way, there aren't many."

Kurumi heard the name Natsume and hit her fist to her palm. "Ah, that's Kazu-kun's…"

"What?" Yui cocked her head, and Kurumi quickly shook hers.

"No, it's nothing."

Yui shrugged. "In the middle school, our class only has Ren-kun. There might be some others in other classes, but Yui doesn't know that much. Oh, the high school division has quite a couple though. Which means Hime-chan's s-pe-cial!" Yui beamed. "Well, Yui saw this coming."

"How'd you get that Special Star, anyway?" Ren asked curiously as Yui started erasing her pyramid. "It isn't something teachers just randomly hand out."

"That's right, that's right!" Akemi agreed. "Are you sure you didn't bribe-"

"Shut up, monkey, no one asked you," Ren said coldly.

"Uuu, Ren-sama…" Akemi sobbed.

"Hmm…" Kurumi thought. "I'm not too sure myself...things like this usually aren't my job, you see. I can only assume that Aka-chan...err, Aka-chan-senpai pulled a few strings."

"Aka-chan-senpai-you mean Sengoku-senpai?" Yuuta looked up, startled.

"Ehh? That respected Sengoku-senpai?!" Naoki exclaimed. "No way! To refer to such a well-known senpai as only 'Aka-chan-senpai' is-!"

"Ah, you mean Aka-chan?" Kurumi thought. "I mean~ 'Akashi' is too long and kinda awkward on my tongue, and calling him by his last name is just plain weird, so I've been calling him Aka-chan since a long time ago."

"Now there isn't even an upperclassman tag!" Naomi wailed.

"Hmm 'from a long time ago,' huh?" Ren repeated, violet eyes glittering curiously.

"Ara, did I say that?"

"Yes you did, Kurumi…"

"I guess it must've slipped out," Kurumi stuck out her tongue sheepishly.

"I've been wondering for a while, but exactly what is your relationship with Sengoku-senpai?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Hmm, well, that's a se-c-ret!" Kurumi winked playfully.

Ren looked like he wasn't finished with the argument, but then he jerked suddenly and his eyes flew wide. "No! Takino, the door! Get the door!"

"Eh?" Startled, Yui turned from where she had just set down the chalkboard eraser. Never before did she remember Ren calling anyone besides Yuuta by their name-be it first or last. He usually just ended up calling them 'monkey.'

It was too late, though.

Fingers appeared on the doorframe, followed by an extremely frightening murderous aura. "SA-WA-KI-GU-CHI…."

"Atcha...forgot to get the door," He winced.

"Ah, I was wondering why Komai-sensei wasn't here yet even though the bell rang a long time ago," Naoki remarked. He looked at Ren sheepishly. "So that's the reason, huh…."

"I'm booking it!" Ren easily spun around on the desktop and pulled open the window, hopping out with an absent wave of his hand. "See ya, Sensei!"

"Wait a-Ren!" Yuuta protested, quickly closing his book and hopping out after his friend. He landed easily on the ground, once again feeling surprised that a jump from the fourth floor felt like hopping from a standard point.

"Oh? You coming with me, Yuu?" Ren asked, turning around with a frivolous grin.

Yuuta sighed and shrugged, though he smiled slightly. "Guess I don't have a choice, do I?"

Ren laughed. "If you say so~"

The two boys vanished into the distance (literally).

Kurumi giggled to herself from where she watched at the window seat of the classroom. "Boys."

Then Komai-sensei, worn out and slightly breathless but with her composure professionally maintained, said some rather dreadful words.

"All right, all of you! Up on your feet! We're running!"

"Whaaaaat?!"

 **A/N: So sorry I didn't update yesterday! I was really exhausted from tennis practice and, to be perfectly honest, a little bit pissed off with this website because I don't understand how it works. Is it possible to edit past chapters I've already posted? But that's okay~ (UPDATE: I FIGURED IT OUT! XD) Oh, I'm having trouble getting my sister to let me use her iPad to digitally color the cover (or at least try, since I suck at coloring) so it'll take a little longer before it's finished. But the temporary cover isn't that bad, is it? :) And thanks for the reviews! I went on today and freaked out again over the reviews! XD**

 **:** Thanks for your second comment! It makes me happy to see them. And I like Ren too! *fangirl squeals over my own character (which is kind of weird, but I'm a weird person)* But I realized Ren's personality and Kazu's personality is kind of similar...I'll figure it out :)

 **Mikanatsume-1:** Thank you very much! You have no idea how much that means to me. I'll keep doing my best! (PS, I really like your username :)

 **I hope the rest of you drop in a review as well! Or at least just enjoy these next chapters. Thank you for reading!**

 **~Chikage**


	10. Chapter 10: Ranking System of Stars II

"Why do we have to run…?" Ariko mumbled sleepily.

"Well, it can't be helped," Kurumi answered. "She did warn us yesterday, after all. Running shouldn't be too much for you, should it?"

"Uuu but I'm sleepy...it's all Kurumi's fault...waking me up so early in the morning…"

"So somehow it's become my fault again, huh?" Kurumi sighed.

"But Komai-sensei sure is mean~" Yui complained. "All the other teachers let the students use Alices when they run, but Komai-sensei stands at one place in the track and not only counts how many laps we do but hits us if we try to use our Alice~ Uuu, Yui wanna fly!"

"Takino! Stop complaining!"

"Haiyuuu!" Yui flinched when Komai-sensei's hand stretched and karate chopped her on the head. "Ow, that hurts, Sensei!"

A familiar girl giggled as she ran up with another, still familiar, girl right next to her. "Mou, getting in trouble again, Yui-chan?"

"Ah, that's the girl…" Kurumi remembered. _Yui's friends,_

 _Amamiya Honoka and Saiko Tomo, if I recall_.

"Nice to meet you, Miyano-san," Tomo spotted her gaze and smiled, waving cheerfully.

"I'll be in your care," Kurumi nodded.

"So how did you and Kurumi-ah, I'm sorry. My name is Tomo, and this here is Honoka. We don't mind if you call us by our first names. Is that okay, Kurumi-chan, Ariko-chan?"

"No problem!" Kurumi beamed.

"...Mm…" Ariko's head bobbed.

"Then, Yui, how did you and Kurumi-chan get so close? Is it because of the Northern Woods trial?" Tomo asked curiously.

"Arere? Didn't I say? Hime-chan and I are friends from a lo~ng time ago!" Yui chirped.

"Yui!" Kurumi protested.

Honoka looked confused. "Wasn't that someone else?"

"Gue~ss so~" Yui giggled and stuck out her tongue playfully.

Kurumi let out a breath of relief. It was a good thing Yui's air headed attitude made her seem like such a natural idiot that no one really took her seriously.

"Kurumi."

"Hm?"

"Taiyaki."

"Ah…"

Kurumi sighed and reached inside the Giant Vacuum bag reluctantly, handing Ariko a new taiyaki. "Here~"

"Mm."

"Aren't you afraid you'll get fat, eating all those taiyaki?" Honoka asked.

"Taiyaki doesn't make you fat. Mrrow."

"I don't know about that…"

"Don't worry. Ariko-chan has a high metabolism rate."

"I see..."

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Here, my lady, I brought your afternoon tea."

"Thanks, Aka-chan! I'll go bring it to everyone!"

"I'm a little worried about that...should I deliver it for you?"

"That's all right. You're busy aren't you, Aka-chan? I don't want to pull you out of anything."

"But, my lady-"

"Don't worry, leave everything to me!"

Gently carrying a large and steaming tea pot, Kurumi struggled to make her way to the meeting spot where she had promised Tsubasa and Mikan she'd have lunch with them. Finally, the small clearing came into view, and she brightened as she picked up her pace.

"Ah, Tsubasa-kun! Ariko-chan!" She beamed, remembering that Mikan and Hotaru (shouldn't) remember her. "I brought the-ah."

With that small increase of speed, her ankle twisted the wrong way and she fell forward, the teapot nearly splashing everywhere.

"Whoa there!" Tsubasa quickly stretched his leg forward and caught her shadow, preventing her from falling. He let a breath of relief when none of the tea spilled and she was able to regain her footing. "Careful next time."

"Sorry!" Kurumi gave him a bright beam, setting the teapot on the small circular table. "Ah, are these your kouhai?"

She noticed that aside from Mikan, Hotaru, Kuro, and Shiro, there was another glasses-wearing boy and two other girls.

"Who are you?" Mikan blinked innocently.

Kuro and Shiro seemed to be holding back the urge to rush over and give Kurumi a hug, which made Kurumi want to pat them on the head for being such good kids.

"...Why are you glaring at us?" Hotaru asked her skeptically.

"I-I'm not glaring!" Kurumi stiffened and shook her head quickly. "Sorry if that scared you. I'm a somewhat new transfer student; my name is Miyano Kurumi. Nice to meet you."

Faced by her formal curtsy, the elementary schoolers weren't really sure how to react.

"Ah, no, that's-"

"Nice to meet you," Shiro answered first, closing her large book. "I'm Hasegawa Shiro, and that's Kuro. Over there is Sakura Mikan, Imai Hotaru, Iinchou, Ogasawara Nonoko, and Umemiya Anna. We'll be in your care."

"Nice to meet you," Kuro nodded his head slightly reluctantly.

"Yup!" Kurumi beamed.

"Um, can I call you Kurumi-senpai?"

Kurumi blinked at the repeated question from the twintail girl Mikan but quickly smiled. "No problem, Mikan-chan! Let's all get along, okay?"

"Okay!"

"Kurumi!"

"Hyaaa!" Kurumi stiffened in shock when Ariko suddenly pounced on her from behind. "A-Ariko-chan?"

"I'm hungry~"

"Okay, I'll get you some food~ Let's go!"

"Mrrow~"

The group of ten students sat together at the round table, and the tea was poured and delivered.

"Thank you," Mikan smiled when a teacup was set at her side.

Kurumi picked up her teacup daintily and sniffed at the aroma first with a satisfied smile. "Looks like it's Darjeeling tea today."

"Huh? Didn't you prepare it?" Tsubasa looked confused.

"Eh? Ah…" Kurumi looked aside. "Well...someone else gave it to me."

"Thank you," Mikan smiled again when a plate of cookies was set next to her.

Then she stiffened. "What-Bear?!"

The elementary schoolers immediately all went to hide, with Mikan and Hotaru looking like they were ready to fight. (Well, Kuro looked off to the side with a bored look, and Shiro continued reading her book).

"C-Come at me! I'm ready this time!" Mikan demanded.

"It's Bear~" Ariko trailed over with a taiyaki in her mouth, immediately grabbing Bear in a hug. "I missed you, Bear~"

Bear seemed to smile as it put its arm around the girl despite her ruffling its ears.

Tsubasa whistled. "Ehh, this is the first time I've seen Bear get so attached to anyone on his own. Bear was made by my best friend, so he won't attack anyone while I'm around. Rest easy."

"Eh? Really?" Mikan blinked.

"How do you know Bear?" Kurumi asked curiously.

"Ah, well, you see, when I first transferred, Natsume made me go to the Northern Woods as a trial, and I got beat up really badly by Bear," Mikan explained. "But it's all right! I'll win next time!"

"Oh, so that was who Ren got the idea from!" Kurumi explained.

"Eh?" Mikan blinked.

"What do you mean?" The boy they called 'Iinchou' looked just as perplexed.

"Actually, her class's problem child Sawakiguchi Ren caught wind of that and used that against her and Ariko," Tsubasa said sheepishly.

"So Tsubasa heard of that as well," Ariko commented.

"Yeah...it's been traveling around the middle school division recently."

"What was it like?" Kuro demanded.

The other elementary schoolers were a little startled by his sudden outburst, but his blue eyes looked genuinely concerned.

"Don't worry, Yui and Ariko-chan went with me," Kurumi said quickly to calm him. "As well as Iinchou-ah, our class's representative."

"Ehhh…" The girl named Nonoko breathed.

"Were you scared?" The girl named Anna asked curiously.

"Not at all!" Kurumi beamed. "It was really fun!"

"A lot of fun meow," Ariko agreed at the same time.

"Eh?" They all blinked at the unexpected answer.

Kuro burst into laughter. "That's Kurumi-oj-oneesan for you!"

"Oneesan? Shouldn't it be Kurumi-senpai?" Nonoko corrected.

"Ah, well…"

"I don't really mind what you call me."

"That aside…"

Ariko stiffened when Tsubasa suddenly lifted Bear from her arms and onto his lap.

"Would you like to try touching him? He won't do anything, I promise."

"Eh?" Mikan blinked. "But that's-"

"Come on!"

Mikan hesitantly headed over, reaching out with a trembling hand.

She patted Bear's head. Then she blinked, as if in disbelief.

"Soft!"

"Oi, Tsubasa!" From the distance, Misaki called out to him. "Could you help me carry this?"

"Oh, coming!" Tsubasa set Bear on the ground and hurried over to give her a hand.

The moment he left, Bear sent Mikan flying with a giant punch.

"Mikan-chan!"

"Bear~"

As the elementary schoolers chased after the soaring Mikan and Ariko ran after the running Bear, Kurumi was left as the only one at the table, still sipping her tea elegantly.

Then she set the teacup on the saucer gently and opened her golden eyes. "Komai-sensei...is it?"

The bushes rustled behind her, informing her that she was right, and there was a sigh as her homeroom teacher stepped out into the clearing.

"So you knew…"

"Sensei isn't very good at masking her scent," Kurumi noted, taking another sip of her tea. "I've had special training from Ariko-chan. That aside, I'm supposing you're trying to keep an eye on Ariko-chan to determine her Star Ranking?"

Komai-sensei laughed. "You really are something else, Miyano. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing."

"Well then," Kurumi set her empty teacup on the table along with the saucer, standing up to face the teacher. "I have a suggestion."

"...Eh?"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"And then…" Komai-sensei looked irritated as she wrote on the chalkboard, whirling around. "Kusakabe! Stop snacking during class! You're dropping crumbs everywhere and disturbing class, too!"

Ariko looked up when the teacher stormed over and snatched the taiyaki from her hand. Then, as Komai-sensei headed away, she started emitting a strong murderous aura, causing the people sitting next to her to lean away.

"Sensei...stealing my taiyaki…"

"Eh?"

Komai-sensei blinked when the taiyaki suddenly vanished from her hand, and saw Ariko had snatched it from her in one lightning fast motion, already sitting back in her seat and nibbling on it quietly. The moment she looked over at the girl, the cat girl immediately stiffened and hissed at her, her cat ears and tail standing on end.

"She'll be quieter," Kurumi said sheepishly. "But don't try that again please, Sensei…"

 _Why is the student lecturing the teacher…?_

"Just be quieter," Komai-sensei sighed, returning to the chalk board to continue her teaching. _Sheesh, she's making more messes for the students to clean afterwards...what a pain._

Halfway through, she turned around. "Kusakabe-"

"No taiyaki," Ariko immediately turned around to face the back of the classroom, holding her taiyaki away from the teacher.

"That's not it...Solve the next question."

Ariko eyed her suspiciously but then shrugged and took a bite of her taiyaki, mumbling the correct answer around a mouthful.

"Correct...don't talk while eating next time."

"Amazing…"

Whispers were spread slowly around the room.

"Even Komai-sensei's given up…"

"Kusakabe-san's amazing!"

"Quiet!" Komai-sensei demanded.

Kurumi giggled mischievously.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

Komai-sensei sighed as she headed back down the hallway after school to check on the students' cleaning jobs, brimming with fury. "That troublesome class...every day I feel more tired than the last. I wonder if the students will be complaining about the crumbs dropped during class-"

She broke off abruptly upon pushing open the door.

"Are you sure you're okay, Kusakabe-san? The classroom is pretty large. We can help you-"

"Mm," Ariko interrupted the girl talking as she ran the broomstick across the ground gently, being very careful not to leave marks as she swept the crumbs and messes into a neat pile in the center of the room. "Dustpan…"

"Oh, we don't use the dustpan," Yui spoke up. "Bring the trash can over here."

Ariko complied obediently, and Yui lightened the gravity before dropping it again, every single crumb dropping into the trash can. Ariko moved the trash can back before absently wiping at the floor with her tail to clean any leftover spots, pouting when she saw the dust left over on her tail.

"Messier than I thought...I'll have to bathe today."

Grumbling complaints to herself, she headed over to where Honoka was wiping the windows and absently rubbed her tail against a spot on the glass. "You missed a spot."

"Ah, thanks."

"But Ariko's tail is really useful, huh? You even use it for cleaning?"

"Not normally. It gets too dirty. But this time's an exception, I suppose. Mrrow."

"Wow, it's cleaner than it ever gets!" Yui commented, glancing over the ground. "The floor's never this clean, even if Yui's the one cleaning. Though Ren-kun will probably mess it up again tomorrow."

"Well then, I'm going to go clean other messes," Ariko commented, taking the broomstick and following her nose to scenes of crime where she had eaten too much taiyaki. She stopped in front of Komai-sensei at the doorway however, looking at the teacher suspiciously. "I have no taiyaki for you to steal, Sensei. Please don't stalk me."

"Um…"

As Komai-sensei watched, the cat girl passed her and started dusting at the hallway floor absently, searching for the crumbs she had dropped.

Yui giggled. "Ariko-chi really is amazing~"

 _Normal people wouldn't go anywhere near that far to clean up their messes,_ Komai-sensei thought. _Is this what Miyano was talking about?_

" _Well then. I have suggestion."_

" _Eh…?"_

" _Do keep a close eye on her, Sensei. I think you'll see some rather interesting things."_

"Isn't she quite something?"

"Miyano."

Kurumi beamed brightly. "I've always admired the way Ariko-chan can get her work done when she needs to. She cleans up all the messes that she make far more acutely than anyone else would, she makes sure to feed all the animals in the pens and even pays Bear a visit. I can't do that kind of housework, so frankly, I find it amazing. Ariko-chan's a real busybody, honestly."

"I see…"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Sit down. I have an announcement."

"Tch, she came early today," Ren muttered, and Komai-sensei immediately glared at him.

"Sit. In your seat."

Ren reluctantly hopped off the desktop and into his seat next to Yuuta.

Komai-sensei set her attendance book on her desk and faced the class sternly. "Kusakabe Ariko's Star Ranking has been decided."

The girl in question nibbled on her taiyaki without another care in the world.

Komai-sensei headed down the aisle towards her, and the cat girl immediately held her taiyaki away.

Three golden stars were dropped in front of her.

"Congratulations. You're a triple."

 **Yay~ Ariko-chan's star ranking has been announced! Sorry if the chapter was a little boring, both the star ranking system and the joint class situation do have to be explained since they're new and to any readers who might be confused. But personally, I thought the next chapter was really very interesting (which I will post shortly to make up for yesterday)! So look forward to that! What do you think of the new development with Ariko's personality? Tell me what you think in the reviews!**

 **~Chikage**


	11. Chapter 10,5: An Alice Dodgeball Game

**Might as well explain this ahead of time. As the title says, this is episode 7's super epic Alice dodgeball game that happened amongst the elementary school! Because it's a short chapter (only half the length of my original chapters, so only one chapter this time) and doesn't actually feature Kurumi, it's labeled as 10.5. Also, I can't put the decimal point in the chapter title, so it became 10,5. Well, enough with the chatter, on with the chapter!**

 **^('^')^ \ ^('^')^ / ^('^')^**

"So, with that being said, let's all play a dodgeball game!"

The entire class felt once again fairly annoyed at Mikan's whimsical antics.

"Hotaru."

"Hm?" Hotaru looked over when Shiro spoke up from her right.

Shiro asked bluntly, "Has she always been like this?"

"Pretty much."

-and thus, much to her irritation, Shiro was dragged into playing Alice dodgeball with Mikan and Natsume.

"I won't play. I definitely won't play."

"Come on, already, Shiro!"

"...It makes me feel even less motivated when you're the one pulling me, Kuro."

" _Shiro!_ "

"Please, Shiro?" Mikan begged. "We need eight players on our team and we've got six! You and Kuro need to help us!"

"I won't play."

"All right, we've got eight players! You're going down, Natsume!" Mikan said confidently.

"I thought I said-"

Kazu, on the other team, laughed. "Just give it up, Shiro."

"Suddenly, I feel rather motivated to hit you in the face, Kazu." Shiro's piercing blue eyes glared daggers at the frivolous boy.

Kazu simply laughed. "All right, so we're using the Alice dodgeball!" He spun the ball expertly on his finger like a basketball and caught it in his hands. "Want to start us off, Natsume?"

"Doesn't matter to me."

"Meh, let's not kill them the first time around."

"I'll burn you if you don't shut up."

Kazu laughed, tossing the ball to the boy with the Telekinesis Alice. "Why don't you start us off, then?"

The boy scowled as he caught the ball. "You're noisy. Well, whatever. Here I go!"

He pitched the ball forward, and the star on the ball glowed briefly before invoking his Telekinesis Alice, spinning his fist in circles. The ball followed his motion and also spun in crazy circles, giving Nonoko no choice but to yelp as she was hit.

"Sorry, Mikan-chan," she said.

"Don't worry about it!"

Then Iinchou (their class's class representative, Tobita Yuu) picked up the ball and threw it towards the other team. "Ei!"

 _Bii!_ The star glowed again, creating an illusion of a super large dodgeball threatening to crush the other team. The boy yelled in surprise, but Natsume stepped forward calmly and held out his hand. "Don't fall for it."

"That's Natsume for you!" The girl Mikan nicknamed Permy, Shouda Sumire, squealed, almost like a chibi Akemi.

Frankly, Shiro found her quite annoying.

The game continued on: Sumire and her friend attempted to get Mikan out of the game, but the latter girl's Nullification Alice cancelled all effects of either girl's Alice. Whenever anyone tried to get Hotaru out, she simply whipped out a powerful invention from her backpack and fired it back ten times stronger. Natsume kept throwing bombs, enshrouding the dodgeball with a flaming fire. Kuro did nothing but dodge all the balls, not bothering to catch or throw, and Shiro simply stood in the back of the court reading a thick book.

Eventually, people on both sides kept getting out one by one. Soon, as the sun was going down, the remaining players on Mikan's team were as follows: Mikan, Hotaru, Ruka (who hadn't moved from the corner of the court after being tricked onto their team), Kuro, and Shiro. The ones on Natsume's team were Natsume, Kazu, and the other boy with the Telekinesis Alice.

Mikan panted heavily, wiping sweat from her chin. "I'm tired…"

"Then take a break."

"Ah!"

She looked surprised when Kuro suddenly took the ball from her hand.

"Kuro!"

"Oh? Kuro's gonna throw?" Kazu noted teasingly.

Kuro immediately glared at him, his icy blue eyes the same as Shiro's. "I'll kill you."

Kazu laughed. "Interesting, interesting! Hey, Natsume, let me handle this for a bit."

Natsume, also slightly breathless, nodded. "Yeah."

Kazu walked towards the center of the court casually, pulling his headphones down around his neck and holding out his empty hands. "Come on! I'm waiting!"

"Tch," Kuro narrowed his eyes and threw the ball forward.

"Kuro's Alice, huh? I wonder how this will work!" A boy on the sidelines said excitedly.

"Mm."

"Why are you out here, Imai…?"

"Because I'm tired."

 _Biii._ The Alice star glowed-

-and the entire court turned pitch black.

"What's this?"

"I can't see anything!"

"Help!"

"Shadow Control Alice, huh?" Kazu mused to himself thoughtfully. "But-"

He didn't see it when the ball emerged from behind him, out of his shadow, and straight for his undefended back. Well, that was a given-he couldn't see _anything_ -not even his own two hands.

But the ball was stopped anyway.

When the darkness cleared, the students all blinked to clear their vision, and were stunned by the sight of the Alice dodgeball being stopped in midair by a swirling, well-controlled vacuum-the effects of Kazu's Vacuum Alice.

"Kazu, you cheater!" Kuro yelled. "You used your Alice!"

Kazu laughed, bringing both the vacuum and the ball to the front. "This is Alice dodgeball, right? The effects of my Alice must have kicked in on the ball."

"Even if it's an Alice dodgeball, there's no way the ball would do something like that!" Kuro argued.

"Whatever, you can't prove that," Kazu responded simply. "Catch!"

Then he spun his vacuum backwards and used the reverse force to send the ball propelling forward at full speed. (As he had been using his Alice to begin with, the Alice dodgeball had no need to kick in this time).

When the ball came for Kuro's face, he instinctively ducked-

-and the ball slammed into the face of Shiro, who had been standing directly behind him.

"Ah…" Both boys froze.

"Kazu…" Shiro's voice was icy and quiet. "I'm pissed now."

Kazu recovered first and burst into his usual laughter. "Sorry, but getting angry now isn't going to do you any good, Shiro."

"...Says who?"

Then the ball moved forward, and all the spectators realized that it hadn't actually hit Shiro's face-at the very last minute, she had defended herself with a cushion of white light holding the ball in the air.

"It's Shiro's Light Control Alice!" Mikan exclaimed.

"Shiro, you're cheating too!" Kuro protested.

"Just pretend you didn't see it," Shiro answered calmly.

"Wha-?!"

"Yeah, don't be such a sucker for rules, Kuro," Kazu mocked.

Kuro exploded. "That's it! Shiro, hit that guy in the face!"

"Well, I would have done so even without you telling me."

Shiro calmly stepped forward and drew her arm back, pitching the ball forward with perfect baseball form.

This time, when the ball activated with her Alice, it was the opposite of Kuro's-the entire court exploded in a burst of white that blinded all the students. And once again, Kazu was blinded by the light as his green eyes flicked across the empty whiteness, waiting for the ball to reappear.

Then he chuckled to himself. "Hmm~ They're twins, all right."

Six separate vacuums appeared around him, each one of them as flat as a board, prepared to catch the ball. He was in the clear to use his Alice now, as Shiro had unintentionally done the same, but it wasn't like anyone could see his transparent vacuums through Shiro's harsh light anyway.

He felt the ball get absorbed into a vacuum on his left and released all the other vortexes, easily catching the ball in the air. As soon as he did, the light faded and his vision cleared again. He laughed, tossing the ball up and down in his hand. "Not bad, Shiro~ Was that supposed to hit me?"

"Tch."

Kazu casually held the ball out in front of him-

-and dropped it.

"Wha-?" Natsume's crimson eyes widened in confusion at his incomprehensible action, but then he understood.

The ball dropped through a vacuum and vanished, much like a Teleportation Alice's effect, and a vortex appeared right in front of Kuro, who blinked as the ball shot out at full speed from it. Instinctively, he thrust his hand upwards, and his shadow complied to his action, rising out of the ground and forming a protective barrier to block the ball from hitting him. The ball bounced off harmlessly and rolled across the ground to the middle of the court.

Kazu held out his hand and summoned another strong, mini-tornado-like vacuum to bring the ball back to him. As it rose in the air and started in his direction-

"Oh no you don't!"

Kuro's shadow immediately flew forward and enshrouded itself around the Alice dodgeball like a long, black, sticky strand of gum. Kuro made a backwards yanking motion, exerting all his force into pulling his shadow-along with the ball-back to him, but Kazu simply spun his vortex faster, creating an even stronger tornado. The ball was stuck in the air between the two courts, in a battle of wind versus shadow.

Sumire blinked her eyes a couple of times. "This is...Alice dodgeball, right?"

"Right…" Her friend with the Teleportation Alice said sheepishly.

"W-Wait a minute! Alice dodgeball shouldn't be this way! Stop!"

At Mikan's shout, her Nullification Alice was suddenly invoked, and both boys suddenly found their Alice attacks vanished. The ball dropped from the sky.

Mikan went for the ball-

Shiro beat her to it. The white-haired girl easily scooped up the ball and hopped back to the middle of their side of the court, glancing over at Mikan.

"Why? It's called Alice dodgeball."

"It-It's just not right!" Mikan insisted. "We're supposed to be using this to form a bond-"

"Just shut up," Shiro said in a bored tone. "Here I go, Kazu!"

"Yeah, give me your best~"

Shiro glanced at Kuro, who nodded, and she nodded back before pitching the ball again at full speed, this time the ball entering an effect similar to Kazu's by entering a ripple of light in midair.

Kazu smiled and made a move to jump backwards-

He jerked suddenly, and glanced down when he found his shadow firmly attached to the ground. With a frivolous laugh, he glanced over at the other side of the court to see Kuro with his hand outstretched and glowing black, blue eyes determined.

"Too bad for you, but I don't need either my hands or my feet~"

As he spoke, two mini tornados appeared next to him, spinning forcefully and sucking up everything around him. The moment the ball appeared from the air, it was swept up in the powerful wind and left to reside in the tornado harmlessly.

Shiro smirked and swished out her hand.

Then the ball glowed white suddenly and began spinning with opposite momentum, forcefully moving against the tornado in such a violent motion that it was able to cancel out the tornado. As it had taken Kazu by surprise, he made no move to strengthen his vacuum.

"No way!" Mikan protested.

"Are you sure this is Alice dodgeball…?"

"Y-Yeah…"

The ball, still enshrouded in Shiro's white light, jerked wildly in the air and flew for Kazu's face. The other boy, his shadow still frozen by Kuro, was unable to move at all, and it was remarkably harder to create vacuums without the use of his hands.

Kazu laughed.

Kuro suddenly flinched and fell backwards when a force suddenly pressed against his Alice. Kazu spread his legs and held out his hands with the same frivolous but arrogant look on his face.

A huge wind swept up suddenly around Kazu, ruffling his already tousled hair, and Shiro winced slightly as she lost control on the ball and stumbled backwards half a step as the ball was swept up in Kazu's vacuum.

It was no longer suitable to be called a mini tornado-it was nothing less than a full-fledged twister. The ball spun in huge circles wildly, and even dust, sand, twigs, and leaves were all swept into it as well. Even the other students had trouble keeping their feet on the ground.

"Oi, Kazu!" Natsume shouted.

"Aren't you being too serious about this?!" Sumire shrieked, hiding her face in her elbow and holding her skirt down with her other hand. "It's just dodgeball!"

Kazu laughed again. "Interesting, interesting! Alright, I'll take you on, Kuro, Shiro!"

Two pairs of blue eyes and one pair of green eyes met, all narrowed in determination and challenge.

"We're settling this today!"

"This is...Alice dodgeball…right?"

"Probably…not."

Kazu snapped his fingers, and the tornado reared the ball around a couple more times before releasing it midswing at full speed and straight for Shiro.

Shiro simply spread her hands wide, like she was acting as a goal post. The ball passed through a light vortex between her hands-

It was unable to go all the way through. Shiro glanced down and she realized that Kazu had stopped its entry with a separate, transparent wind vortex mixed in with her light portal. Her eyebrow ticked in annoyance and she clicked her tongue.

"Tch."

She brought her hands together and clasped them tightly before thrusting forward, and the light portal turned inside out, forcing the ball out of the vacuum and into the ground.

- _into_ the ground. Right before it landed, a circle of swirling black appeared on the ground, swallowing up the ball whole before vanishing. The world faded in black again as Kuro once again got his hands on the ball. Even amidst the pitch black darkness, Kazu's twister winds still remained strong.

"This is going to be a hard throw…" Kuro mumbled, gripping the ball tightly.

And then, before he even threw it, the darkness suddenly vanished and Kazu thrust his hand forward.

"Ahhh…?!"

A sharp gust of wind shot forward and punched the ball straight into Kuro's face while he was holding it.

 _Bounce._

The ball landed on the ground harmlessly.

"Kazu!" Kuro yelled. "What was that?! That's so not fair!"

Kazu burst into laughter, doubling over and holding his stomach. "Ah...ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! You let down your guard, Kuro!"

"That's cheating-" Shiro began.

 _Thwack._

The ball bounced off her head suddenly. It wasn't a hard throw; it was a fairly light one, in fact, with no special gimmicks whatsoever.

"Ei!"

 _Pakk._

"...Ah."

In perfect succession, Natsume had picked up the ball from where Kuro dropped it and lightly bopped Shiro on the head as she was talking, and then Mikan had picked it back up after the rebound and smacked Kazu on the head from where he was doubled over with laughter.

"You guys are noisy," Natsume complained. "Take your catfight somewhere else."

"That's right, that's right!" Mikan agreed. "We're playing dodgeball!"

"Tch," Shiro clicked her tongue and stepped off the court with Kuro in tow, pulling out her heavy book again. "You're the one who forced me into it."

"I'm gonna kill that Kazu!" Kuro yelled.

Kazu floated off the court on his vacuum and grinned his frivolous grin at the two twins. "Let's play again sometime~"

Two pairs of identical blue eyes glared at him. " _I'll kill you._ "

Kazu laughed. "Ah ha ha ha~ Interesting, interesting!"

 **Kyaaa, I really liked this chapter! I tried to make it as humorous as possible while at the same time sticking to the plotline of the original episode while making it mostly new stuff so it doesn't get boring-frankly, I put a lot of effort into it :) I went a little bit more into depth about the elementary schoolers' (mainly Kuro, Shiro and Kazu) Alices, and there was a little bit of Mikan and Natsume compatibility there at the end (I ship them! I totally do! X3). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! I plan on doing these small half chapters with episodes I found really interesting but not sure how to insert Kurumi and Ariko into. Review if you liked!**

 **And since this makes up for yesterday, Chikage's signing off for the day!**


	12. Chapter 11: First time in Joint Class

"That's kind of amazing that you're a triple, Ariko-chan!"

"Un, and you only just transferred!"

"You and Kurumi-chan are really amazing!"

"Mrrow," Ariko took a bite of her taiyaki absently. "Incidentally, what's a triple?"

"What~?" Yui protested. "But Yui explained it all yesterday~"

"I wasn't listening," Ariko said bluntly.

Yui sighed. "Mou…"

 _Slam!_

They all stiffened and turned when the door suddenly burst open.

"H-Hey, Ren…"

"Shut up."

Ignoring Yuuta behind him, Ren stormed across the room with a darkened expression and hopped up on the desk, staring out the window absently while clicking his tongue irritably. Yuuta sighed and sat next to him reluctantly, pulling out a book.

"Ren-kun's angry about something again…" Tomo whispered.

"It's probably because today's joint class," Yui whispered back.

"Joint class? What's that, what's that?" Kurumi asked excitedly.

"Oh, right, Hime-chan hasn't been to joint class yet~" Yui said thoughtfully. "Joint class takes place once every week. You get into different groups corresponding to your Alices and all elementary, middle, and high school divisions get together. There's four-well, actually five types of Alices: Latent, the typical superhuman powers like Yui. Akemi is also a Latent Type, as well as Iinchou."

"Who said you could say my name so casually?" Akemi demanded.

Yui ignored her and leaned in to whisper to Kurumi, "Aka-chan and Kazu are also Latent Type. Miya would be too."

"Right."

"The second is Technical Type," Yui went on loudly. "An Alice to create something. The students here are quiet and tend to work by themselves. Honoka-chan and Tomo-chan are Technical Types."

"Yep!"

"The third is Somatic Type. Ariko-chi is a Somatic Type: related to physical and pheromonal manipulation. Yuuta-kun is also a Somatic, and-" Another whisper- "Sonata as well."

"What do you keep whispering, Yui?" Honoka asked curiously.

"No~thing," Yui responded brightly. "The fourth is Special Ability Type: basically everything left over. Yui guess that Hime-chan is a Special Ability Type, since your Alice is still unknown. Um, Tsubasa-kun and Misaki-chan are Special Ability Types. Kuro and Shiro are too."

"Stop whispering!"

"So~rry~"

"Hmm…." Kurumi thought. "And the fifth is Dangerous?"

Yui blinked. "Why does Hime-chan know that?"

"Er…" Kurumi looked aside awkwardly. "I happened to hear it when I was registering. It's no big deal. B-Besides, Onohara-kun mentioned it too."

Naoki blinked. "Come to think of it, I did."

"Well," Yui shrugged, "not a lot is known about the Dangerous Ability Types. It's just that if anyone's Alice is deemed as "dangerous" or "capable of harming people," they're put under the Dangerous Ability immediately. Yui's not very sure."

"Thanks, Yui~" Kurumi beamed.

"Mrrow~"

"Were you listening, Ariko-chi?"

"Not at all~"

"Ariko-chi-!"

"All right, sit down."

Even Komai-sensei herself seemed surprised when she opened the door just as the bell rang. She glanced towards the back corner of the classroom as she headed towards her desk to see Ren still sitting on the desktop with his back facing her, staring out the window with a scowl.

"Sawakiguchi."

"What?"

Ren's violet eyes glared at her sharply.

"Sit down."

"I am sitting."

"Don't get smart with me."

"Whatever." He hopped into his seat irritably.

"So, as you all know, joint classes are today, so don't forget about that. Now, starting class…"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"...Huh? I feel like I've already been here before…" Kurumi tipped her head to herself in confusion as she examined her surroundings critically. "Fuwaa~ This is nothing like my estate~ I'm lost!"

"Ah, Kurumi-ojousan!"

"Kuro! Shiro! Perfect timing!" Kurumi brightened noticeably, first checking to make sure no one else was around before hurrying over to the twins.

"Is Kurumi-ojousan on the way to joint class too?"

"Is Kurumi-ojousan _lost_ , by any chance?"

Honestly, sometimes Shiro's bluntness really hurt.

"Shiro, you're so mean~ But yeah, I'm lost," Kurumi stuck out her tongue sheepishly.

"Ehh~ Then follow me."

The white-haired girl turned and started walking briskly, followed by her twin brother and Kurumi.

"So, Kurumi-ojousan is in Special Ability too?" Kuro asked curiously, walking with his arms folded behind his head. "Well, I suppose I saw that coming."

"Yeah?"

"Because no one knows Kurumi-ojousan's Alice, right? It's no surprise that they can't categorize it."

"Don't call me Kurumi-ojousan even if there's no one around! It's too risky!" Kurumi insisted.

"What about Kazu?" Shiro asked crisply. "He calls you Ojou, right?"

"Well, that's just Kazu-kun, and besides, he's just kind of like that anyway," Kurumi shrugged. "No one takes him seriously, I guess? But did something happen?"

After being with the twins for so long, she could immediately pick up the dark undertone lying beneath Shiro's voice.

Both twins turned their faces away. "Nothing."

"Tell me!" Kurumi insisted. "Did you get into a fight again?"

Kuro and Shiro shared another look before saying simultaneously, "Kazu started it."

Kurumi sighed. "You guys never get along...Bad!" She patted the younger kids' heads lightly.

"Oh? Tattling on me to Ojou?"

Speak of the devil.

They all looked up to see the boy in question sitting criss cross in the air, smiling mischievously.

"Kazu-kun!" Kurumi sounded surprised.

"I was on my way to the Latent Ability Type class," Kazu said, sounding amused as he lowered himself to about their height (although he was still sitting on a vacuum).

"Ehhh, so what's it like?"

"Not as interesting as it is back at the estate," Kazu shrugged carelessly.

Kurumi laughed sheepishly to herself. _I bet it isn't…_ Kuro, Shiro, and Kzu constantly picking fights, Yui breaking almost every piece of china possible, Sonata lighting half of the house on fire by trying to cook, trying to maintain over 200 cats and over 100 dogs each in their own cat/dog house, assassination attempts almost every day (and then turning those assassination attempts into-with no other way to say it- _recess_ )… "It really was chaotic, wasn't it?"

Kazu laughed. "No kidding~"

"So tell me," Kurumi said finally. "What's it like? The Special Ability Types?"

All three elementary schoolers blinked before responding simultaneously, "Just a bunch of good-for-nothings."

"Who are you calling a bunch of good-for-nothings?"

"Tsubasa-senpai!" Kuro and Shiro turned in surprise.

"Who's that?" Kazu looked confused.

"Our senpai in the SA class," Kuro answered.

"Ehhh," Kazu gave a rather vague answer. "Well, doesn't matter to me. I'd better get going. Let's play dodgeball again sometime!"

With a boost from his vacuum platform, he leaped through the air and vanished in the distance.

"I'll kill you next time!" Kuro yelled after him, which earned him a light karate chop from Kurumi. "Ow!"

"You guys are still fighting after all!"

"Still?" Tsubasa blinked in confusion.

"Oh Kurumi-oneesan came across us fighting earlier," Shiro explained, making up a believable lie on the spot. "She stopped us, but…"

"Doesn't really seem like that's worked," Kurumi said sheepishly. "But were you on your way to the SA class too, Tsubasa-kun?"

"Oh, so you're our new student, are you?" Tsubasa grinned. "Don't worry, whatever your Alice is, our class has a bunch of the weirdest Alices, so you'll fit right in!"

"That's why we're a bunch of good-for-nothings," Kuro and Shiro said together bluntly.

"Hey!" Tsubasa complained. "Well, either way, I can't disagree with that too much. But we do what we want to do and say what we want to say. Our class motto is "freedom.""

"That'd be kind of nice…" Kurumi's voice trailed off and then she beamed. "I see. Then shall we go?"

"Sure!"

Kuro and Shiro shared an uneasy glance before following their senpai to the Special Ability classroom.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Here we are!"

The moment Kurumi stepped through the door, the room exploded in a shower of confetti, and a banner spilled out of a golden ball with the words "Welcome, New Student!" painted on it in bright red lettering, along with small messages here and there from other students.

"Oh, my…" Kurumi said in surprise.

Kuro laughed. "It's the same every time…"

"Ah, it's Kurumi-senpai!" Mikan ran up to her with a beam. "You're in the SA class?"

"Looks like it," Kurumi smiled brightly.

"Wow, you're so pretty!" A girl squealed. "Can I feel your hair?"

"Um...sure."

"What's your name?"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Kurumi quickly drew up her skirt and curtsied politely. "My name is Miyano Kurumi. Nice to meet you."

The entire class blinked.

Kurumi's golden eyes blinked back. "...That's not right?"

"I think you're too formal for their level, Kurumi-oneesan," Shiro said.

"I see…" Kurumi looked genuinely worried about this. "Then perhaps it's 'good to know you'? No, 'I'll be in your care'?"

"It's not the greeting that's the problem, Kurumi-oneesan…"

"Eh? It's not?"

Shiro stood up on her tiptoes and whispered in Kurumi's ear (who bent down to listen), "This isn't like your typical formal ball gown parties you attend, Kurumi-ojousan."

"Oh…" Kurumi frowned and then bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

Misaki laughed, walking over and patting her back. "Don't worry, don't worry about it! We don't care what you say here. Just go with the flow and say whatever you want to say."

"Didn't I say so? Our class motto is "freedom,"" Tsubasa winked.

"Ah, Kurumi-senpai, Kurumi-senpai!" Mikan said excitedly, dragging a brown-haired, squinty-eyed male teacher over by the hand. "This is our teacher, Noda-sensei! He's a time tripper. Basically, he can travel freely through the past and future."

"We typically call him Noda-chi," Kuro shrugged.

"Oh, nice to meet you." Habitually, Kurumi curtsied again. "I'll be in your care, Noda-chi-sensei."

"No, you don't need both," Tsubasa said sheepishly.

"Hmm, but I wouldn't feel good calling a teacher without a 'sensei' tag," Kurumi said, tipping her head thoughtfully.

"Ah!" One girl yelled suddenly. "Kurumi-chan, you're a Special star?!"

"Ehhhh?!" The entire class did a double take at the badge on her collar.

"That's amazing!" Misaki exclaimed.

"I don't think I know a single student with that badge!" Tsubasa agreed.

"Is that so…" Kurumi said with a somewhat surprised but also somewhat careless tone.

"How did you get it?"

"What's your Alice?"

These types of questions rang throughout the room.

"Erm…" Kurumi took a step back at the oppressive onslaught of interrogation questions.

Misaki noticed her hesitation and smiled. "Don't worry! Most of us here have the oddest Alices. I, for one, have the Doppelganger Alice!"

"Ah, ah, I have the Nullification Alice!" Mikan beamed brightly.

Some other voices spoke up as well.

"I have the Rain Alice!"

"I have the Possession Alice!"

"I have the Gold Dust Alice!"

"See? There's no use for that one, right?" Misaki giggled.

"Um, err, well," Kurumi looked away nervously. "I'm...not allowed to say…"

"What do you mean?" Tsubasa looked confused.

"I mean...the only reason I was placed in the Special Ability Type Class is because I'm under direct orders from the school to never reveal my Alice to anyone...so I can't really say...I'm sorry!" Kurumi finished with a deep bow, as if trying to press her forehead to the ground (though only succeeding with the tips of her long hair).

"It's not Kurumi-oneesan's fault," Kuro insisted.

"That's right," Shiro agreed.

Misaki laughed. "Well, don't worry about it. We're all one big family here, so we don't mind at all. Right?"

"Right~"

"Then let's party, Kurumi! Have some cake!"

"Eh? Ah, but that's-" Kurumi tried to protest, but the older girl sat her down at the table forcefully in front of a large cake and poured a drink. "All right, I'll have a bite then. Thank you very much."

"She's really formal, isn't she?" A girl whispered.

"Yeah, she's kind of hard to get along with…" Another girl agreed.

"Now, now, don't say that," Noda-chi said kindly. "I'm sure she's just getting settled in."

"Righ-"

The girls went to agree, but the teacher vanished into thin air on them as they were talking.

"Without further ado," Misaki raised her drink, and so did her clone sitting next to her. "Cheers!"

"Cheers!" The rest of the class cheered with a hyper party attitude.

"Ch-Cheers…" Kurumi stammered, a little bewildered.

"Kurumi-ojousan really isn't good with these wild parties, is she?" Kuro whispered to Shiro.

"Un…" Shiro bobbed her head. "Well, that's to be expected. Kurumi-ojousan is a high class lady who attends high class social parties, after all."

"Ehehe…" Kurumi overheard them and giggled to herself sheepishly.

 **Wow, I was rereading it yesterday and I just realized how long each chapter actually is...should I cut it down even more or is this okay? Also, I'm getting closer to my current position (which is Chapter Nine, and this is Chapter Six). Should I only post one chapter a day, maybe? Sorry, lots of comments, but I want to do what you think is best! Thank you for your constant reviews! It makes me feel happy that you like my story so much! I'll try to update as frequently as possible. Now, for the next chapter!**

 **~Chikage**


	13. Chapter 12: First Time in Joint Class II

"Welcome to the Somatic Class, Ariko-chan!"

Narumi-sensei greeted Ariko inside the classroom (or rather, the animal pen) cheerily. The Somatic Class was currently in charge of feeding animals, so celebrating Ariko's arrival was taking place inside the animal pen. Well, it's not like Ariko cared. She simply bobbed her head once, her tail swishing in the air.

"So Ariko-chan's Alice is…?"

"Not telling," Ariko tossed her head.

Next to her, Yuuta (who had shown her the way) sighed and walked away.

"Why not?" Narumi-sensei blinked, obviously confused.

"Don't wanna," Ariko tossed her head in the other direction like a little kid refusing to eat.

"I see...well, that's all right."

Ariko looked down at her hands. It had been at least five minutes since she last finished her taiyaki.

This wasn't good.

She looked around the room, but since they were in an animal pen, she hadn't expected to find an extra one laying around somewhere. And frankly-she didn't. So she looked up at Narumi-sensei.

"Is something the matter?"

"Do you have taiyaki?"

Narumi-sensei was slightly taken aback by her sudden question.

"Huh? Taiyaki?"

"Un," Ariko bobbed her head. "Taiyaki. I need taiyaki."

"I don't…"

"That's a problem," Ariko thought to herself before turning around to leave. "I'll go find Kurumi. Kurumi has taiyaki."

"Hang on!"

Ariko's nekomimi twitched at the sound of a familiar voice and she turned around to see a high school girl running forward.

"I have one," Sonata held out a taiyaki with a kind smile.

Ariko immediately snatched it from the older girl's hands and took a bite, relishing in the flavor of the taiyaki. Then she remembered and said around a mouthful, "Thank you."

Sonata smiled sheepishly. "No problem. I had just bought some for lunch and had one left over, so…"

Ariko saw that bluff. Obviously, she had borrowed Kurumi's Giant Vacuum Bag for a short while to grab one. But she said nothing, as she wasn't supposed to know Sonata.

"Can I pet your nekomimi?" Sonata asked, her eyes looking longingly at the soft ears.

Ariko's head bobbed. If it's Sonata it's okay.

As Sonata stretched out her hand, Ariko realized the problem at hand. Only Sonata could pet her ears correctly→ no one else is allowed to pet it→ Ariko obviously knows Sonata from somewhere.

Ariko stepped back and shook her head wildly. "Actually, no."

"Th-That's right…" Sonata looked away awkwardly, obviously having come to the same conclusion. "Your name is Kusakabe Ariko, right? I'm Kazhara Sonata. Nice to meet you."

Ariko simply nodded again, ignoring Sonata's outstretched hand as her own hands were busy with her taiyaki (and somewhat sticky).

"Well, you like animals, right?" Sonata beamed. "Go ahead and look around. If you need anything, I'll be over helping Narumi-sensei."

Ariko's head bobbed again and she headed across the room.

She had barely taken a couple of steps when she suddenly crashed into someone hard. She snapped her head upwards even as the person fell backwards from the force, miraculously managing to maintain her footing, and snatched her falling taiyaki out of the air before putting it back in her mouth.

Close call.

"Ah."

She then remembered the person she had run into and looked down.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

The person she had run into was a girl, a tall girl of middle school age, (although most likely in Tsubasa and Misaki's class as Ariko didn't recognize her) and she had short dark hair and violet eyes; her stature might have made people mistake her for a boy, but Ariko could tell that she was obviously a girl.

"I would offer you a hand, but…" Ariko held up both of her jam-covered hands.

The girl chuckled as she pulled herself to her feet. "Yeah. Don't worry about it. Sorry about that."

"Yuri-sama!" Two girls nearby suddenly grabbed onto her hands and started dragging her every which way. "Come this way~"

"Ah, hang on," She tried to protest, but couldn't and was forcefully taken away.

Ariko looked confused, her nekomimi twitching. "Weird…"

"That's a first."

"Ah, Naru-chan-sensei."

Narumi-sensei was obviously thinking _she's seriously calling me that?_ but didn't say so out loud. Instead he said with a smile, "Yuri-chan has the Female Pheromone Alice, which is why all the girls around her are attracted to her."

"Ah, that makes sense."

Narumi-sensei gave her a weird look. "I wonder why you weren't affected."

"Because I'm not 100% human."

"...Huh?"

"Nothing. I'm going to feed the cats."

Ariko trailed off cheerily, her tail swishing happily as she knelt next to the small kitty pen. She thought about sharing her taiyaki but then thought against it-it wasn't like the cats would eat it anyway. Her taiyaki belonged to her alone.

"So you like the cats?"

Ariko looked up to see an unfamiliar blond-haired blue-eyed elementary schooler approaching her with a smile and a bunny in his hands. She swallowed her urge to pounce on the bunny along with a piece of taiyaki and bobbed her head once.

Ruka knelt next to her, holding out his hand, and immediately all the cats swarmed him with purrs and cuddles. Ruka also seemed to get a satisfied blissful look on his face.

Suddenly, Ariko frowned and took her taiyaki out of her mouth, leaning in towards him and sniffing the air critically.

Ruka leaned backwards, his cheeks flushing. "Wh-What?"

Ariko frowned and sat back, putting her taiyaki back in her mouth. "Nothing. You smell good for some reason."

"Oh, I have the Animal Pheromone Alice, but-" Ruka began, but Ariko cut him off by nodding her head.

"That makes sense."

 _What part of it does?_

"What's your name?"

"Huh? Oh, it's Ruka. Nogi Ruka. You're Kusakabe Ariko, right?"

"Mm."

Ariko stretched out her hand towards Ruka but then remembered the sticky jam all over her palm and drew back her hand sulkily. She held her hand out in front of her this time, and one of the cats rubbing gently against Ruka's legs noticed it and padded over to her, gently licking at the jam on her hand.

Ariko nodded her head once. "Mm, this cat is a good girl."

"You can tell it's a girl?"

"Obviously."

"Huh…"

Then the cat suddenly jumped up onto her neck and rubbed its tiny face against hers, purring happily. It batted at Ariko's half eaten taiyaki playfully like it was a mouse toy.

 _Snap._

Ariko's taiyaki broke in two, and one half fell on the ground.

"Ah."

Ruka leaned away when a murderous aura of fury erupted around the cat girl. Ariko held up her hand and claws immediately appeared, which she swung straight at the poor cat, who barely managed to dodge.

"That. Was. My. Taiyaki."

The cat hissed and scratched her in the face-well, tried to, but she dodged aside and hissed right back.

"Mrrow!"

The girl and the cat got into a strange catfight, causing the entire class to turn and watch. Narumi-sensei stammered, "A-Ariko-chan…?"

It was at least five minutes later that Ariko finally calmed down, glancing with teary eyes at her fallen taiyaki. Then she sighed and gently petted the cat's head (who still seemed happy to be petted by her, surprisingly).

She told it bluntly, "Bad girl."

And then turned around, standing up and trotting across the room straight to where Sonata stood writing something down on a clipboard. "Sonata-senpai, I want another taiyaki."

"Even if you say that…" Sonata said sheepishly.

Ariko frowned and whirled around to head for the door. "I'm going to find taiy-I mean, I'm going to find Kurumi."

"I-I-I got it! I'll give you another taiyaki, okay?" Sonata yelled frantically.

Ariko turned around expectantly, holding out her hand, and Sonata sighed before reaching upwards into the air. Her hand vanished through a vacuum, surprising the entire class, and she pulled out a taiyaki before handing it over to Ariko.

"Here, Ariko-chan."

Ariko grabbed the taiyaki and skipped off happily.

Sonata sighed to herself as she watched the girl go bother-no, watched the girl go _talk to_ Yuuta. _She never changes...I'd rather not disrupt Kurumi as she should be settling into the SA Class right now. Ariko-chan sure knows how to hit a nerve~_

"Hey, hey, what was that?"

"Eh?"

Shoot. Sonata hadn't thought of the consequences that came with this action. One of her friends came up to her excitedly, pressing about the matter of the Giant Vacuum Bag.

"Wasn't that a Latent Type Alice? Ne, Sonata~"

"No, that was someone else's Latent Alice," Sonata said quickly. "I was just using it-"

"Who's?"

"Come on, give it a rest!"

"No way!"

"Well, too bad. I won't tell you."

"Come on!"

Sonata laughed to herself.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Fuwaa~ That was tiring," Kurumi said sleepily as she headed away from the Special Ability Classroom. "I'm not used to parties like that…" Then she remembered something and straightened, thinking. "I wonder how Ariko-chan's doing...I'm surprised she didn't bust in looking for taiyaki."

" _Sonata's in the Somatic Ability Type too!"_

She remembered Yui saying this and nodded to herself. "Mm...that explains it."

"Kurumi~ Perfect timing."

Ariko skipped up cheerily, her hands and her mouth stained with purple plum-flavored jam.

"Taiyaki."

"Mou, Ariko-chan," Kurumi laughed, pulling out a handkerchief and dabbing at Ariko's messes like a mother cleaning up after a spoiled kid. Ariko's nekomimi twitched as she got a pampered look. "You should clean up after yourself."

Ariko licked some jam off her fingers then held out her hand. "Taiyaki."

"Right, right~" Kurumi reached into the Giant Vacuum Bag and handed the at girl another taiyaki.

Ariko took a bite and stiffened suddenly. "It's strawberry-flavored…"

"Hm?" Kurumi smiled obliviously.

"Nothing," Ariko continued biting into the fish-shaped taiyaki.

"Hey, you."

Hiroshi Arata stepped up to them with a scowl, his hands on his hips. Another boy and a girl stood behind him.

"Aren't you acting a little too big shot for some transfer student?"

"Hm?" Kurumi blinked innocently.

"She probably doesn't have an Alice and just wants to be special," The girl sneered. "Well?"

"I'm not sure…" Kurumi looked worried. "I'm sorry, but I still can't show it to you."

"Bullcrap," The second boy snarled. "You don't have an Alice, do you? And all that stuff about you being a Special Star? What kind of bribe did you pull?"

"Bribe, you say…" Kurumi looked away awkwardly. "Well…"

"See, she did bribe the teachers!" The girl laughed. "Why don't you say that again so we can get it on tape?"

Kurumi blinked. "But I didn't say that. You did."

"Listen here-"

Arata was about to speak, but then he flinched and jerked back when a murderous aura suddenly erupted from behind Kurumi. He looked around the girl to see Ariko standing there nibbling on her taiyaki while emitting an aura of pure fury that would frighten even lions and tigers.

"Wh-What do you want?" Arata demanded.

"That should be my line!" Kurumi countered, putting her hands on her hips. "Excuse me, but-honestly, I'm quite fed up with your jealous acts! I said this to Ren-kun, but it's not like I want to hide my Alice, either! I _have_ to! I've said you can think what you like about my Alice and I appreciate you confronting me face to face, but frankly, stop twisting facts and making the story believable for yourself! Komai-sensei even said that I have an Alice that I'm just not allowed to tell! If you have any other complaints, tell them to the headmaster!"

Arata scowled, turning to leave. "You'll regret this!"

"Hmph!" Kurumi tossed her head with her arms crossed, her twintails bouncing slightly on her shoulders.

The moment the three were out of sight, Kurumi stiffened and whirled around.

"Ariko-chan! Please stop glaring at me like that!"

Ariko blinked. "Glaring? Me?"

"What are you thinking about that made you so angry, anyway?"

Ariko blinked her green eyes again slowly, then shook her head.

"I'm not angry. I was just deciding whether plum-filled or strawberry-filled taiyaki is better."

Kurumi stared at her for a minute-and then burst into laughter.

"You're too much, Ariko-chan!"

"Stop laughing, Kurumi. It's not funny. Did something happen?"

"No-ah-I-"

"Buu~"

Ariko was utterly confused by Kurumi's incomprehensible actions.

"Weird."

 **And now, we're officially past the boring parts! But I didn't think that was that bad. On the contrary, it was quite funny. XD I really like Ariko's personality (actually, tbh, I let my sister design Ariko's personality). What did you think? Not that bad, huh? Well, things only get more and more interesting from here! Let me know what you think! Please R &R-even just a small review is fine!**

 **Ariko:** Because the author is desperate...

 **Chikage:** Wha-?! No I'm not! I-I'm just saying!

 **Kurumi:** But saying it so many times is redundant...

 **Chikage:** Not you too...

 **All:** Thank you very much for your support!

 **Chikage signing off for the day!**


	14. Chapter 13: A Teacher's Troubles

**Warning: Slight amount of violence and bloodshed, followed by mention of killing. Read at your own risk. But I kept it light for this website, so I think it should be okay. I'll give a warning ahead of time whenever I write killing scenes anyway, though (this one's short). Read on, brave soldiers!**

"He-He's here!"

Screaming was heard from around the room; shouting orders and the firing of gunshots echoed off the metal walls as the armed guards were aroused into a panic.

"It's so easy to set them off…" Ren mused to himself, sitting in a dark corner on a ceiling beam and tossing a dagger in his hand. He easily pitched it forward, shrinking the distance between himself and his target-

"Aaahhhhh!"

He turned his head instinctively when it hit.

 _I hate this…_

Ten minutes later, he was most likely the only living being left in the room. The room was dead quiet, with no other sounds aside from the buzzing of the broken air conditioner, and the stench of blood filled the air.

 _I hate this...the blood won't clear…_

But he had no choice. He was used to it by now, but he still hated it no matter how many times he did it.

It was too late now.

Ren hopped down from the ceiling, and trying to avert his gaze from the figures sprawled on the ground, made his way towards the exit to get out of the storehouse drenched in death. Right before he closed the heavy metal doors, he shot one more dagger towards an already sparking machine piece.

When the warehouse exploded in a shower of flames mere milliseconds later, he was already miles away.

When he returned to the school campus not long later, as expected, the man clothed in black and covered in all sorts of silver Alice-restraint pieces Persona was waiting expectantly.

"Finished already?"

"Yeah."

"Good work. I'll call you again if I need you."

"Right…"

 _I hate this. I hate him._

 _I'll kill Persona. Some day._

And then Sawakiguchi Ren returned to his dorm room for the night.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Good morning, everyone!"

"Takino, pipe down! You're late!"

"Geck! Why is Honjou-sensei teaching first?!"

"There's been a slight change in schedule since Komai-sensei's busy in a meeting. Sit."

"But that's _English class_ first thing in the morning!"

" _Sit._ "

"Yes, sir…"

Yui slouched down into her seat sulkily.

Kurumi quietly pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it before quietly sliding it across the table.

Yui received the note and frowned as she read the formal and curly handwriting.

 _Who's Honjou-sensei?_

Yui picked up her pen and scribbled a message back before sliding it back across to Kurumi, who picked it up and read it.

 **Our English teacher. He's a really** **scary** **strict teacher who is really serious about studying and not using our Alices if we don't need to. Just don't set him off and he's fine. (=owo=)**

Yui received Kurumi's reply not much longer later.

 _Oh. I see. What about his class?_

Yui picked up her pen.

 **For Hime-chan who's done jobs in America and other countries before, no challenge. But for Yui...Hime-chan could teach Yui!** **It's typical school** **Even if this is Gakuen Alice, it's not totally elite in studies.**

 _Don't worry, I'll teach you, but that's not what I mea_

"Passing notes during my class already, new student?"

"Crap," Yui whispered to herself.

Honjou-sensei stood before Kurumi with the paper she was writing on in his hand and his brows furrowed in anger.

Kurumi blinked and then bowed her head slightly. "My sincere apologies for disrupting your class, Sensei."

"Yes? Then read and translate the sentence on the board."

Kurumi peered around him to read the foreign words and said aloud fluently, "Excuse me, sir, how much for this umbrella? Politely asking a vendor the cost of an umbrella. Literally translated, 'excuse me, sir, how much for this umbrella?'" ( **A/N: Sorry, it's hard to translate between Japanese and English when I'm writing in English. Hopefully you get the gist of that.)**

The entire class 'oohed' at her perfect pronunciation and translation. Honjou-sensei grunted in approval.

"Then tell me, Miyano, exactly what is so important that you had to discuss with Takino in the middle of my class? Shall I read this out loud to the class?"

Akemi snickered at them, but Kurumi simply answered calmly, "I'm sorry, Sensei, the only person that would downsize would be yourself."

Honjou-sensei read through the contents and scowled, whirling around to face Yui. "Takino-"

"Just a minute," Kurumi stood up, forcing him to turn back to her. "None of this is Yui's fault."

Next to her, Ariko nibbled on a taiyaki and mumbled quietly to herself, "Once Kurumi's on a roll, nothing stops her."

"I asked a question first and Yui simply answered it. I dare say the fault is mine alone," Kurumi went on, somehow turning the class into a student lecturing a teacher instead of vice versa. Then she switched languages and spoke in perfect English, "However, before I take full responsibility, I must add that you did fail to introduce yourself to me as I am a new student no matter which way you look at it, and I was therefore unable to suppress my curiosity and nor was I able to prepare myself thoroughly for your class without knowing at least your name."

Honjou-sensei frowned at Kurumi's use of a foreign language, but as this was English class, he was unable to object. _Perhaps she's doing this in my favor. Information like this is rather good stuff other kids can use against me. Putting aside some students such as Sawakiguchi and Onohara, a majority of their English grades…_

So he answered her in a heavily punctuated English. "Then what are you going to tell me about this next question corresponding to my class?"

Kurumi spoke a line of foreign language, and a majority of the class turned to look at each other in confusion.

"Can you understand them?"

"Not at all…"

"Miyano's English is so good!"

But Honjou-sensei stood with his brows curled in confusion as Kurumi spoke, and Ren broke her off by whistling as he leaned back in his seat, his legs kicked up on the desk.

"French, huh? _Are you just showing off your capabilities, monkey_?" He asked the second sentence in the same French that Kurumi had just been speaking, which caused Yuuta to look at him in surprise, but he just gave Kurumi a mischievous smile.

"Sawakiguchi. Feet down. Chair on the floor."

"Tch."

Kurumi blinked her eyes slowly and then put her hand to her mouth. " _Oh my. My apologies._ I do apologize about that. I tend to switch languages by accident sometimes when I'm speaking anything other than Japanese. Ahem. As I was saying, I was only asking Yui about the difficulty level of this class to know whether or not I would be troubled by the previous question I had asked and the amount of information I missed while asking it. That is all. Again, my apologies for disrupting your class, Honjou-sensei."

Finishing in Japanese, Kurumi smiled brightly at the teacher.

"Nn," Honjou-sensei placed the paper back down on her desk reluctantly, with nothing more to object. "Don't do it again, you hear? While I don't doubt your English, Takino's English has problems."

"Worry not; Yui will get private tutoring lessons from me," Kurumi responded calmly, not wanting anyone else to ask her of the same. Then she turned around to face Ren with a smile. "Ren-kun's French is pretty good."

Ren shrugged. "I know a lot of languages. I guess you could say it's in my blood."

Yuuta looked away. _I didn't know that…_

Kurumi beamed. "That's nice. I've been around the world, so I know quite a couple as well."

"Miyano. Sit."

"Oh, I-I apologize!" Kurumi bowed and quickly sat back down.

"Kusakabe."

"Mrrow?"

"No eating in class."

"But I'm being quiet."

"That doesn't change anything. Eating disrupts your brain waves by making you relax-"

"Eating taiyaki is different because taiyaki is brain food."

"No, it's not. Either way, it gets the books and papers sticky, so throw it out."

Ariko immediately held her taiyaki aside suspiciously. "Why are all the Sensei's trying to steal my taiyaki? Also, I don't need a book, and I'll do my homework at home. Kurumi can put it away for me."

"Yup!"

"What do you mean by you don't need a book?" Honjou-sensei demanded. "Are you refusing to take my class?"

Ariko blinked her green eyes in confusion, her nekomimi twitching. "Mm? What's so confusing? I've already memorized it."

"Wha-?!"

The entire class's jaws dropped to the ground as one.

"Memorized? The entire text book?"

"Mm."

"Then recite to me page 185 in the textbook."

"Page 185?"

"We're only on page 56 though!"

Ariko frowned. "I don't remember things by page numbers…"

"The lesson on possessive pronouns," Kurumi suggested, flipping through her book.

"Oh, that one," Ariko's tail twitched as she began reading the textbook word for word off the top of her memory and even naming the examples with top notch precisions as well as perfect pronunciations of the English words.

"Stop. That's enough."

Honjou-sensei heaved a heavy sigh.

 _What is with these two new students?_

Miyano Kurumi. Even after hearing rumors of a scary English teacher, she still had the guts to pass notes in class (and Yui as well, to answer them) and when she was caught she skillfully protected Yui from getting in trouble while at the same time landing herself out of trouble by maneuvering the blame towards me with points that can't be argued against, as well as showing off her knowledge of different languages. She might have been a negotiator at one time with those words and that formal speaking.

Kusakabe Ariko. Hearing the same rumors and disregarding them completely to continue her snacking of her addiction favorite food even during class and having the guts to state her honest mind so bluntly to a teacher about eating during class, as well as demonstrating her superhuman memory and perfect English pronunciation. She must have done some serious hardcore studying to get that memory.

 _They couldn't be…_

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Come to think of it, this is Hime-chan's first time actually having full class, isn't it?"

"Yeah...it's been so busy with chaos that I haven't actually had a decent class yet."

"Well, that's fine! Yui will be your guide! Komai-sensei teaches homeroom and Japanese. And social studies as well. Her Japanese class is usually before Honjou-sensei's but today it seems like she's absent for a while," Yui explained. "Mm, next class is math, so it's Sawada-sensei-"

"It is?" Ren looked skeptical as he listened in on their conversation from behind them. "Ah, man, I really don't like that teacher...we've still got some time before the bell rings so let's book it, Yuu."

"O-Oi, Ren-"

"It's fine, it's fine. It's just math, anyway."

"Ren-kun! You shouldn't!" Yui protested, but Ren just gave her an absent wave as he vanished out the classroom door dragging Yuuta along with him. "Sheesh...he's as temperamental as usual…"

"So what kind of person is this Sawada-sensei?" Kurumi asked curiously.

"Well he's-" Yui began, but she was cut off by the bell.

As the bell sounded, the front door of the classroom slammed open and a tall, scrawny male teacher stumbled inside with a stack of papers. "S-Sorry I'm late-whoa!"

He stubbed his toe on the ground and flew forward, sending all the paperwork flying and crashing face first on the ground, nearly cracking his glasses. "Ow…."

"-even more clumsy than you are, Hime-chan," Yui finished, sweat dropping.

"That's saying a lot," Ariko mumbled.

"Wha-Ariko-chan!" Kurumi protested.

"Ah, arere? You must be the new students, Kusakabe Ariko and Miyano Kurumi, yes?" The teacher glanced over with a beam as he started gathering up all his loose papers from the floor. "Nice to meet you! I'm your mathematics teacher, Sawa-waaahhh!"

As he was talking, his hand slipped on one of the papers lying on the ground and he fell forward again.

"Sawawa-sensei?" Kurumi tilted her head with a confused but polite smile. "That's a rather unique name, Sensei."

Ariko snickered quietly to herself. "Kurumi...lacks common sense…"

"Did you say something just now, Ariko-chan?"

Upon feeling the shivers being sent down her spine by Kurumi's fake smile, Ariko quickly turned her head away.

"...Nothing."

"No, no, it's Sawa-waaaah!"

Right when he finished gathering the papers and stood up, he accidentally knocked his knee against the chalkboard ledge and fell back over again, scattering all the papers all over the floor for the second time.

"A-Are you okay, Sawawa-sensei?!" Kurumi stood up and hurriedly rushed out. "L-Let me help-kyaa!"

As she was running down the aisle, her foot turned the wrong way and she fell flat on her face.

"Oww...I'm okay!"

"Now we've got two klutzes in this class…"

"That's not-"

"Oh, my, did you say something?"

The entire class felt the same shivers as Ariko when Kurumi smiled and looked away.

"No. We didn't."

"It's Sawada-sensei, Miyano-san," Sawada-sensei corrected as he picked up all the papers and carefully placed them on the teacher's desk before standing behind it. "Thank you. Please sit down."

"No problem, Sawawa-sensei!" Kurumi didn't seem to hear him, beaming as she returned to her seat. "Be more careful next time!"

"A-All right, let me make sure everyone is here…" Sawada-sensei didn't bother with correcting her and scanned the room. "Sawakiguchi-kun and Fujitome-kun aren't here again? Are they sick?"

"They ditched," The entire class said as one.

"Again…?" Sawada-sensei sighed. "They're never here for my class…"

"It's because of the way you are," Akemi said bluntly.

"You're so cruel, Sakurako-san…Well, their grades look fine, so I won't say anything. The rest of you, please open your textbooks to page 112."

"Sawawa-sensei," Kurumi raised her hand.

"It's Sawada-sensei, Miyano-san."

"But Sawawa-sensei kind of just sticks…"

"Not you too, Kusakabe-san!"

"Ariko-chan and I aren't sure of what you're teaching today. Could you at least tell us what they've been learning before our transfer?"

"Ah, right, I'm sorry. We were just on linear equations and functions."

"...Really? That seems too easy…"

"Hm? What were you learning in your previous school, Miyano-san?"

"Well...I had a priva-I mean...I was homeschooled, so it wasn't necessarily a school, but I just finished derivatives and limits."

"That's calculus!"

"What's calculus?"

"It's at _least_ a high school level course, if not a college level course."

"Eh? Really?"

"Then what about Kusakabe-san?"

"Hm? Mm...the same. Kurumi and I had the same private tutor."

 _She used the word 'private tutor' way too casually just now,_ Kurumi thought to herself.

"I see…" Sawada-sensei sighed. "Very well, just sit and listen anyway. We have a test on Thursday, so there might be something you didn't cover. Erm, starting the lesson…"

 **Hi~ Chikage's back with a new chapter! Sorry it's been so long~ My school just started (sophomore year! Oh boy!) and I've been propelled with homework from my honors literature teacher nonstop and mixed in with tennis, it's been really crazy. But I finally found time to post one chapter! Sorry, the cover is taking longer than I thought. I'm coloring it digitally, but because** I can't do digital art + I can't do coloring (even more so) = a challenge for me :). **I've only finished coloring Kurumi, but I'll work on it. Also, I'm reaching the place I hit a slight writer's block on, so I'm thinking about only posting one chapter every week. Sorry about that!**

 **With that being said, Chikage's signing off for the day!**

 **Kurumi:** Ehh?! You can't do that!

 **Ariko:** Author-san...lazy, right...?

 **Chikage:** That's not it! I already said I'm going to be really busy!

 **Ariko:** ...Whatever...

 **Kurumi:** Do your best, author-san! I'll support you!

 **Oh, and thanks again to (why won't your name show up?) for reviewing! Love you! :) The rest of you should drop in a review as well if you get the chance!**


	15. Chapter 14: A Teacher's Troubles II

It was barely fifteen minutes later that Kurumi accidentally fell asleep. Her head was tilted back against the back of the seat in a cute and ladylike position and her breath came out evenly. As her long hair was spilled over her shoulder in its twintails as usual, it wasn't bothering the person sitting behind her-well, if there had been anyone there anyway, since Ren and Yuuta were out playing hooky.

Sawada-sensei finished explaining the main concept and then finally felt irritated by Kurumi's napping during class.

"Miyano-san!"

"Funyaa!" Kurumi made a small noise of surprise, jolting awake and rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Uu...sorry, Sawawa-sensei…fuwaa~"

"No sleeping during class. Answer the problem on the board for me."

"Yes, sir…" Kurumi mumbled, her golden eyes blinking as she cleared her vision. "Um…" She tilted her head as she read the equation before quietly pulling out a piece of paper.

"Huh? It should just be a mental problem-"

Kurumi ignored him and wrote down the four symbols and thought briefly before crossing out three and circling the division sign with a nod. Then she looked back up at the teacher.

"Sawawa-sensei, I think you made a mistake with the second addition sign...instead of a plus sign, shouldn't it be a division sign? Putting divided by 3 instead of adding 3 gets x equals 14, but if you're supposed to keep it as it is then it would be x equals -3 plus or minus the square root of 6 _i_ all over 5, and that's not even a real number…" She rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her school uniform, obviously not awake yet.

"Eh? Ah, you're right…"

But even half awake, she had still solved a problem mentally that even had a written error to it-while correcting the error at the same time.

"Then Kusakabe-san-"

"That next problem...it's the same as example 4 in the textbook...I remember the answer was 4. Sawawa-sensei is lazy…"

"I-I heard from Honjou-sensei that you memorized the entire English textbook, but math…"

"Hm? There's no difference, is there? Math is actually easier, cause it's all numbers…"

 _Shouldn't that make it harder?!_ The whole class seemed to be thinking this.

Sawada-sensei sighed. These two… "One more thing. No eating during class, Kusakabe-san."

Ariko immediately turned all the way around in her chair to continue snacking on her taiyaki, finishing off the tail and turning around to face Sawada-sensei with jam smeared all over her mouth.

"Keep taiyaki away from all sensei's...mental note made. Mm. I wonder why all sensei's hate taiyaki so much….poor taiyaki...with that being said, another taiyaki please, Kurumi."

Kurumi giggled and reached her hand into the air before handing Ariko another taiyaki. "Be quiet as you eat."

"Mm."

Ariko took a bite.

Sawada-sensei sighed. "I give up…."

He returned to his lesson, except five minutes later-

"...and if you can't figure out a way to divide this, then-"

"Sawawa-sensei!"

"Waaahhh!" Sawada-sensei accidentally knocked his head on the chalkboard at the sudden call before stumbling backwards and crashing against the desk to the ground.

"Oops…" Kurumi looked sheepish.

Sawada-sensei put his hand on the desk to help himself up, his head spinning. "Y-Yes, Miyano-san?"

"I was just thinking~ Can Ariko-chan and I ditch your class as well? Like Ren-kun and Yuuta-kun?"

"Of course not!"

"Hm, is that so."

 _Why'd you even ask?!_ The whole class seemed to be thinking as one again.

-And so, the two girls ended up napping for the rest of the hour.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Oh, Ren-kun came back! Yui didn't think you would."

"Well, yeah," Ren shrugged as he headed back to his seat. "Normally I wouldn't, but we're doing a lab today and Yuu's not good at chemistry."

"You don't need to go around telling people what I'm good at or what I'm not good at," Yuuta said sourly as he sat down.

"Ehh, that's a surprise! I didn't know that Yuuta-kun wasn't good at something!" Tomo said in surprise.

"Yeah, well, Ren, Yuuta, and Iinchou are our class's top students," Honoka replied.

"We're still human," Yuuta muttered.

"Ah, right, right, Ren-kun," Kurumi turned around in her seat. "Would it be alright if tomorrow you show Ariko-chan and myself around some of the good places on campus during math class? No offense to Sawawa-sensei, but his class is really quite boring."

"Sawawa-sensei?" Ren laughed. "I missed something, didn't I?"

"Because~ he introduced himself as Sawawa-sensei to me twice and it kind of stuck afterwards, you know…." Kurumi said. "So, is that okay?"

"Sure, I don't mind," Ren shrugged. "Oh, but I don't miss test days or Per-I mean…" He looked at the ground. "There'll be someone out after my head."

"Yes, I quite agree," Kurumi nodded her head. "My aunt was a stickler on that as well."

"'Quite'?" Ren echoed. Then he laughed. "That style of speaking is so old!"

"Kurumi...is a weirdo…"

"Ariko-chan…"

"Uh-oh, Kurumi's angry."

Lightning and thunder flashed and Kurumi's hair seemed to light on fire. The way her face was frozen in her smile somehow made her seem even more intimidating.

"Mou~! All day today you've been doing nothing but bad-mouthing me!" Kurumi yelled, looking for a table to flip but not finding one. "I'd really rather not get angry, but I don't know how else to react to it, either-frankly, it's embarrassing!"

"Mm…"

"No more taiyaki for you!"

This was the line that punched Ariko's heart cleanly.

Her green eyes immediately teared up and she grabbed Kurumi's hands tightly.

"No-not that! I'm sorry, I'll never do it again, I promise. Taiyaki…"

"Hmph," Kurumi tossed her head, puffing up her cheeks irritably.

"Aaaaalllllll riiiiiight everyone!"

A loud yell rang out through the classroom.

Ren looked away. "Tch, I forgot I don't like this teacher either."

"Sawakiguchi! No bad mouthing the teacher!"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Exactly which teachers do you like, Ren-kun?"

"Komai-sensei's fun to make fun of. Honjou-sensei doesn't waste time on random chatter. Sawada-sensei is pathetic and Ashia-sensei is an annoying super hyper chatterbox on high."

" _Sawakiguchi_!"

Ren laughed.

Kurumi blinked her eyes a couple of times. "She's...the teacher...is she?"

She had reason to be surprised. The teacher was a female teacher, and she was only about as tall as Komai-sensei _standing on the teacher's desk._ In other words, she was extremely short and could be mistaken easily for an elementary schooler or a short middle schooler.

"Fufu~" The short teacher puffed up her chest for some unknown reason. "Surprised, transfer student?"

Kurumi put her hand to her mouth, trying to resist her sudden urge. "How cute…"

 _In which way?_ Ariko still couldn't understand her friend's weird tastes.

"Hey! I'll have you know I am 21, you know!" Ashia-sensei proclaimed. "Well, anyway, I'm your science teacher, Ashia Mikuru. Let's get along, Miyano, Kusakabe!"

"All right," Kurumi beamed a flowery smile.

"Mm," Ariko bobbed her head. "Kurumi, taiyaki."

Kurumi tossed her head. "Hmph."

"No-wait-I'm sorry-I didn't mean to-I'll never do it again-"

"You said that last time."

 _Time for the last resort._

"B-But...taiyaki...taiyaki is so far away…"

Ariko looked up at Kurumi with her best puppy dog eyes, her green eyes bubbling with tears. Her nekomimi and tail twitched simultaneously.

The entire class turned red (aside from Ren). _K-Kawaiii!_

Kurumi simply closed her eyes and opened her hands. "Not looking~"

"K-K-Kurumi…!"

"All right, all right, break it up you two!" Ashia-sensei clapped her hands. "We're doing a lab today, so let's get moving!"

"Hai, Sensei!"

The lab equipment was expertly set up and the lab was started without a hitch. Ashia-sensei walked through the aisle calmly, examining each and every group's move to make sure nothing exploded.

"Sakurako, add more table salt. Hiroshi, move your hands and not your mouth. Onohara, good job. A little less water next time and it'll work. Ishigawa, use methylene blue and not iodine. Careful with the stains. Fujitome, don't make Sawakiguchi do all the work. Remember, the effect you want from the reaction is a colorful light explosion!"

"What kind of effect is that?" Arata complained.

"Hiroshi! Move your hands and not your mouth!"

Arata scowled.

"All right, we're almost done!" Honoka declared to Yui, Kurumi, Ariko, and Tomo. "The last step is adding glucose and that's it!"

"There is none."

"Eh?"

"I can't find glucose anywhere!"

"Is this it?"

"No, that's sucrose. Can't you read the label?"

"I see...this?"

"Starch. Seriously, read it before showing it to me!"

"Oh? Group 3's out of glucose?" Ashia-sensei peered over the table curiously. "That's troublesome. Sensei will run and go get some-"

"Ahhhh, wait, don't!" Honoka's protest rang out before she could move. "Kurumi, that's fructose!"

"Eh?" Kurumi blinked from where she had just finished turning a spoonful of powdery white sugar-like chemical into the solution. "E-Ehhhh?! It is?! Are you sure? It feels like glucose!"

"No, it's definitely fructose-see, it says right here on the bag-"

 _Pop._

"...Eh?"

The entire class turned, stunned, as their beaker of a strange multicolored liquid exploded in a shower of rainbow light reactions spilling out into the air.

"It couldn't be-" Ashia-sensei's eyes were wide.

"Th-Then using fructose works as well?" Honoka stammered, looking at the bag. "But that doesn't make any-"

"No, that wouldn't make any sense," Ashia-sensei reached up and snatched the bag from Honoka's hands. "Let me see this." Her blue eyes flashed suddenly, a gold tint covering her pupils as her eyes dilated slightly and she looked at the bag with great interest, her vision diving into every individual element inside the bag. Finally, she lifted her head back up slowly. "This is definitely glucose."

"H-Huh, what a coincidence," Kurumi said sheepishly, scratching her cheek. "Are you sure about that, Sensei?"

"I'm sure," Ashia-sensei tossed the bag on the table, ignoring the substance that spilled out onto the table. "I have the Microvision Alice. The reason I'm a science teacher is because I can see the elements making up just about everything."

"I see…" Kurumi looked away awkwardly.

Ashia-sensei narrowed her eyes. _This isn't a normal coincidence. For her to pick up a bag thinking it was glucose and actually add it into the solution without double checking and ironically just happening to have a bag of glucose with the wrong label? Unless…_

"The texture was thin, wasn't it?" Ariko mumbled, licking her finger of any jam left over from her previous taiyaki. "That's how you knew, Kurumi. Fructose is thicker than glucose…"

"Y-Yeah, you're right," Kurumi agreed.

"Hmm…" Ashia-sensei only looked half convinced.

"So?" Ariko looked at Kurumi expectantly.

Kurumi sighed and shrugged, handing over a taiyaki with a dry smile, which Ariko immediately pounced on and bit into. She giggled to herself and petted Ariko's nekomimi softly.

"What?!"

A sudden yell rang out inside the classroom from a boy, and they saw that he had opened a letter or note of some sort and had just finished reading it.

"I won't accept this!"

"What's up, Tashiro?" Ashia-sensei glanced over at the curly-haired glasses boy who had spoken in an indignant tone, but he stormed out of the classroom. "Oi, class isn't over yet!"

"My inventions can't be beaten by those of an _elementary schooler's_! I'll show you, Imai Hotaru!"

Kurumi and Ariko blinked before looking at each other.

"Sorry, Sensei, we're done for the day!"

"Mm...looks interesting…"

"Eh? Hey, wait!"

The door slammed shut.

 **Hi, sorry I'm late~ And yes, the cliffhanger is for the part of Hotaru vs. the middle school in a robot battle in episode 9. And no, I will not be writing about it. You can leave it up to your imagination of what happens :) I was able to make the Thursday (one-week mark) update on time, but I'm not too sure about the future. I've been pounded by my literature teacher with homework right off the bat (I slept at legit two in the morning thanks to her...) and amidst that there's tennis practice every day and games quite frequently (I lost today, so I'm really quite upset right now). I'll do my best, but no guarantees. Hope you'll stick with me! Thanks for reading (my rant, too, I didn't mean to do that sorry) and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Review what you think if you have the time!**

 **Gakuenlightlover:** Thanks for reviewing and I'm glad to know you like my story! :) I don't believe I mentioned anything about dropping this story, but if that was due to the time gap in between updates, I'll tell everyone now that I won't drop a story unless I post a message saying so (although I usually never drop anything but instead go on super long hiatuses :P). If you read my rant, you can tell I'm really quite busy, but I'll do my best to update as soon as I can! (I also have an author's block on chapter 9...(original document)...but I'll get to it once I get a good inspiration. Sorry to keep you waiting!

 **Oh, did I mention this in the previous chapter? I finished the digital art for the cover page! But the only problem now is that I don't know how to transfer it from my phone to the computer :P. I'll find a solution and get back to you ASAP! Love you all for reading!**

 **~Chikage**


	16. Chapter 15: Shopping in Central Town

"Allowance?" Kurumi's face brightened in a smile. "That's great! I won't have to rely on Aka-chan's money anymore!"

"Wha-you've been doing such a thing?" Naoki protested. "Sengoku-senpai may be a Special star rank, but that doesn't mean he gets _that_ much money every time allowance comes around!"

"I figured…"

"How can you just go and take a senpai's well-earned money?"

"I tried to say no, but he kept insisting…" Kurumi said awkwardly, looking aside with a sheepish expression. "And then before I knew it I found it all stuffed inside my pocket."

"It can't be that much, right? Even Special stars only get 300 rabbits. How much did you get from him?" Honoka asked skeptically.

"Um, I still have about another 5,000 rabbits I haven't spent yet…"

"F-Five thousand rabbits?!" All of her friends listening sputtered in surprise (aside from Ariko and Yui, who weren't surprised).

"I-I mean...he told me doesn't have any use for his money and hasn't used it since he enrolled…"

"Yui be~ts he was saving it for Hime-chan when she enrolls!"

"...You think so too, Yui?"

"Well…"

Kurumi sighed. "And since I can't go to shopping malls, I have nothing to spend it on anyway, so I think I'll just return it after all…"

"Un, un," Naoki's head bobbed up and down furiously.

"Oh, there is a shopping center," Honoka spoke up.

"What, there is?" Kurumi's golden eyes immediately lit up in excitement as she grabbed Honoka's hands.

"Oh, yeah, Central Town," Ariko remembered.

"You've been there before, Ariko-chi?" Yui tipped her head.

"Mm," Ariko's head bobbed. "When I bought taiyaki. Central Town's taiyaki is yummy…"

"I'd guess so," Kurumi giggled. "But don't put the stand out of business, Ariko-chan."

"I'll only buy 200."

"That's too many."

"Ehh? Then 150."

"That's still too many."

"Then 500."

"Why are you going up?! Mou~ Just remember, you only have 100 rabbits to spend!"

"Mm...Kurumi can buy it for me."

"Who said?"

"Mmhm, Kurumi will buy 200 taiyaki for me."

"Don't go and decide things by yourself!"

"Here."

The girls' argument was interrupted when Komai-sensei walked by and placed a thin envelope in each one of their hands.

"Congratulations," She said in a flat and bored tone, moving on to pass out the other envelopes in her hand.

They all opened them simultaneously and compared the amounts they had.

Kurumi held, naturally, 300 rabbits in her hand. Ariko, a triple, had 100 rabbits. Naoki and Yui, both doubles, had 50 rabbits. Honoka and Tomo, both singles/one stars, had 30 rabbits.

"How lucky, Kurumi," Tomo sighed. "To have all that spending money…"

Kurumi beamed. "And now I have 5,285 rabbits to spend!"

"Hi~me-chan, Yui will give you her 50 rabbits as well!"

"Ah, that's fine, Yui. You want to have spending money for when we go to Central Town."

"Wait, we're actually going today?" Naoki asked.

"Yup!" Kurumi nodded brightly. "It sounds like fun!"

"Wha~t, you guys are going to Central Town?"

Ren sat down on the desk next to them to listen to them talk.

"Ren-kun!" Yui turned in surprise.

"What is it with you and sitting on tables?" Honoka asked in annoyance.

Ren smirked. "Why sit on the chair when you can sit on the table?"

"Uhh...because chairs are made to be sat on."

"Man, you're as much of a goody-two-shoes as Yuu is! Rules are meant to be broken. Everything has more than one purpose. The ancients said some rather wise words, you know."

"The ancients never said that. Please don't make things up to bend towards your own excuse."

"Tch, you're boring."

"Oh, would you like to come with us to Central Town, Ren-kun?" Kurumi beamed brightly. "It's been so long since I last went shopping."

Ren shrugged. "Well, it's not like I've got anything better to do. I have to double check with Yuu, though."

"By the way, where is Yuuta-kun?" Yui asked curiously. "Yui thought the two of you were a~lways together."

"At the library. I really can't stand that dusty place."

"I see…"

"Oh, there he is," Ren raised his hand as the back door of the classroom opened and Yuuta stepped inside with a new book in his hand. "Yuu! We're going to Central Town!"

"Eh?" Yuuta blinked, making his way over. "We are?"

"What happened to double checking?" Honoka asked skeptically.

"Hm? Isn't that what I'm doing?" Ren looked confused.

"No, it isn't-"

"Don't worry, I'm used to it," Yuuta sighed, taking a seat in front of them (although behind Ren). "And it's not really a problem for me."

Ren laughed. "You two are so gullible! Not to mention, monkey," he spoke to Honoka, "you're really inflexible. If Yuu doesn't want to go, all he has to do is tell me he doesn't want to go. Isn't that how friends work?"

"You're saying something like that way too casually, idiot," Yuuta scowled, his cheeks flushing.

Ren burst into another fit of laughter. "You never change! So, monkey, when do we leave?"

Kurumi blinked, tipping her head. "When else?"

"Right now," Ariko filled in. "Taiyaki, here I come."

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"As I thought, Kurumi-oneesan is also coming."

"Kuro! Shiro!" Kurumi beamed, spotting the elementary schoolers sitting on the first seats on the right side of the bus the moment she climbed up the stairs carefully. "Are you guys going to Central Town as well?"

"Yep!" Kuro grinned.

"Ah, hello, Kurumi-senpai," The elementary school Iinchou smiled. Next to him, Hotaru nodded her greeting.

"Hello!"

"Kurumi...holding up the line…"

"Ah, sorry, sorry!" Kurumi quickly slid into the third seat, right behind Kuro and Shiro, and Ariko plopped down next to her. Then she spotted someone in the first seat of the left side. "How cute~!"

The crimson-eyed Natsume glared up at her coldly. "Who are you?"

The little boy in his lap, who Kurumi had just called cute, blinked his big blue eyes at her curiously.

 _Oh, right, I never met him again after Sonata erased his memories…_

"My name is Miyano Kurumi," Kurumi smiled despite his icy glare. "Nice to meet you. And you are?"

"Hmph," Natsume simply looked aside, losing interest.

Kuro resisted the strong urge to reprimand the boy for his disrespect and looked up at Kurumi. "That's Natsume-kun, Kurumi-oneesan. His name is Hyuuga Natsume."

"Oh…" Kurumi remembered what Yui had said.

" _There's only one Special Star in the elementary school division that Yui knows of and it's Hyuuga Natsume-kun...that kid with the Fire Alice, I'm pretty sure…"_

Sure enough, the small gold star circumscribed within the red circle was pinned on his collar.

"And the little boy?"

"Oh, that's Yo-chan," Kuro said, glancing at the small boy. "I met him for the first time today as well...he's from the Dangerous Ability Class, apparently, and he's really attached to Natsume-kun."

"He's the reason Natsume decided to accompany Mikan-chan to Central Town."

"I see…" Kurumi looked at the girl selling ice creams pitifully.

"And the one sitting next to him is-"

"Ah, it's Ruka-kun," Ariko noticed.

Ruka heard and glanced back at her, his face dawning with recognition. "Oh, you're…"

"Know her?" Natsume glanced over skeptically.

"Un, somewhat…" Ruka nodded. "She's in the Somatic Ability Class with me."

"I see."

"I forgot Ariko-oneesan and Ruka-kun are in the same ability class," Shiro mused to herself. "I never thought about it."

"So? Then where's Kazu-kun?"

Both twins' faces soured at the mention of the other boy's name, but Shiro answered the question awaiting an answer calmly.

"He said he's flying there since he can't stand vehicles of any kind."

"Oh, right," Kurumi giggled. "Kazu-kun doesn't change."

Natsume seemed to have overheard her as he looked at her from an angle with a skeptical look, but then placed a manga over his face and started napping.

The bus to Central Town filled with both middle and elementary schoolers kept driving all the way to the shopping district.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Wow, this is Central Town? Amazing, amazing! What should I get? What should I buy? It's bigger than I thought, it's so exciting!"

Mikan immediately began hopping around excitedly the moment they arrived.

"Calm down, calm down," Hotaru said flatly.

"Hmm...it's a lot smaller than I thought…" Kurumi murmured aloud, tipping her head.

All heads turned to her.

" _Smaller?_ "

"Kurumi-oneesan, you can't compare things to the size of your estate," Kuro whispered.

"Huh? Why not?" Kurumi was oblivious to the fact that the size of her mansion was nowhere _near_ normal.

"Mm...nowhere near as big as my dogs' play areas."

"Huuuuuh?!"

"Nothing...must buy taiyaki now…"

And the cat girl trotted off happily, her tail twitching.

"Look, let's go over there!" Yui said excitedly. "That stationary store is one of the biggest around!"

"Agreed!" Mikan cheered.

"It's pretty spacious," Naoki noted upon stepping inside.

Kurumi giggled. "My, it looks like the size of my dog house."

"Your dog house?!" Almost all of them yelled. Ren snickered, Hotaru remained impassive, Natsume was still glaring at them, and Yo clung to him tightly. Kuro, Shiro, and Yui tried to shush Kurumi.

Ariko disagreed with a straight face, having returned already from the taiyaki stand with a whole armful of taiyaki, which Kurumi dropped into the Giant Vacuum Bag. "No...a little bit bigger than your dog house, Kurumi. Maybe the cat house…?"

"You have a cat, Kurumi?" Honoka sounded surprised. "You don't seem to me like an animal person…"

"Mm, I have a couple," Kurumi nodded. "But Ariko-chan has quite a few too."

"I wish I had a cat, but my mom was always allergic. How many do you have?" Tomo looked envious.

"Ah, that's-" Kuro, Shiro, and Yui started in perfect sync.

Kurumi and Ariko interrupted simultaneously with the same answer.

"Two hundred and twenty-nine."

Disbelief reflected in all of their friends' eyes, but Ariko and Kurumi just turned to look at each other.

"We're tied again."

"...Need to tell Mama...to get a new cat."

"That's unfair, Ariko-chan!"

Ren laughed. "You two are funny~"

"Yo! I made it!"

The door opened and Kazu stepped inside with his usual frivolous grin.

"Thanks for waiting~"

As the young boy ran up to Natsume and Ruka, he blinked at the stunned tension in the air.

"Did I miss something?"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Ah ah ha ha ha ha ha! Ojou, you seriously don't know that it's not normal to have 200+ cats? Ha ha ha! You're too funny~"

Upon hearing the explanation of the scenario provided by Kuro and Shiro in private, Kazu immediately burst into a fit of never-ending laughter.

"Hey….come to think of it, doesn't Ren-kun act a little bit like Kazu?" Yui whispered.

"Mm...it should be the other way around, but yeah, you're right…" Kurumi agreed. "And you shouldn't laugh so hard, Kazu-kun. It's rude."

"Sorry, sorry~" Kazu's tone of voice didn't change as he wiped tears from his eyes. "Ojou, let me tell you something. Gakuen Alice isn't nearly as big as your main estate."

"I realized that."

"But to the world, Gakuen Alice is the largest school building-really, the largest piece of land a single company or any kind of person owns," Kazu explained. "A lot of people here come from busy cities or small country towns and have barely even seen something as large as Central Town. You can't compare things to your standard viewings, Ojou."

"No kidding."

"Fuwaaah!"

All of them, aside from Kazu who just blinked, yelled and leaped backwards in surprise. Ariko fumbled and nearly dropped her taiyaki but successfully caught it before it hit the ground, letting out a breath of relief. Kurumi stumbled and fell over, onto the soft grass.

Ren flipped down from where he was sitting on a tall tree branch of the giant oak tree they had been talking beside, landing on the ground next to Kazu and Kurumi.

"R-Ren-kun!" Yui exclaimed. "Were you eavesdropping?!"

"No way," Ren laughed. "On the contrary, I was here first."

"But-"

"Well, the fact is that I overheard your conversation and there's nothing you can do about it anymore. Unless you want to kill me."

He said a terrible thing with a careless smile.

"Ehhh, that's rather interesting," Kazu laughed.

Ren laughed as well. "You think so too~?"

"Seriously, they're like twins," Kurumi whispered.

"It's su~per super creepy!" Yui whispered back.

"I like you, monkey!" Ren ruffled Kazu's hair with a grin. "What's your name?"

"Kagamine Kazu. You? Also, don't touch my hair."

"Sawakiguchi Ren. But Sawakiguchi is too long, so you can just call me Ren."

Kazu laughed. "Sawakiguchi is a normal last name. But knowing Ojou, she probably couldn't say it."

"Kazu-kun!" Kurumi protested.

"Why do you call her Ojou?"

"Because she acts so much like a lady but not at the same time."

"Ah ha ha, I like that! All right, from today on you're called Ojou-sama!"

"I don't really mind," Kurumi responded indifferently with a smile.

"She's too used to it," Kuro whispered to Shiro.

Shiro nodded. "Un…"

"Hm~ You're an odd one, as I figured."

"Well, I'll be getting back to Natsume and Ruka," Kazu's feet lifted in the air as he used a vacuum to float, though he kept his hands in his pockets. "See ya round, Ojou, Senpai."

"Just now-Kazu just said 'Senpai'!" Kuro exclaimed. "You heard it too, right? I wasn't just hearing things?"

"Un…" Shiro nodded slowly, obviously in shock as well.

Kazu overheard as he was flying away and laughed. "Oi, oi, what kind of person do you take me for?"

Ren smirked. "Ehh~ He's an interesting one. So, _Ojou-sama,_ what kind of life did you have before coming here?"

"I spent all day negotiating contracts and studying under private tutors, and all night gathering information at social parties," Kurumi answered. "This isn't supposed to get out to the public, but I'm Miyano Kurumi, the head of the Miyano household. Ariko-chan is the daughter of Countess Kusakabe Imari."

"Oh, I've heard of both," Ren recalled. "Kusakabe Imari. Even though we don't really have "class" in the modern society, she's called by the title 'Countess' and has quite the reputation as well as influential ability. Never thought she'd be your mother though."

"Mm...Mama is really very peculiar about the 'ladylike' things…" Ariko mumbled, biting into her taiyaki.

"And then the Miyano household...I've heard that it's somewhat of an underworld affiliation and that not a lot is known about it, but the head of the house is just as influential, if not more. It's kind of just shrouded in mystery, but almost everyone knows it's out there. I really never thought…"

"Yeah," Kurumi looked aside, biting her lip nervously. And then she looked up, her golden eyes dead serious. "Ren-kun, can I trust you to keep this secret?"

"What will you do if I say no?" Ren asked nonchalantly, though he didn't plan on it.

" _Clear your memories down to the bone._ "

Ren blinked, slightly taken aback, and then sighed. "The high school division's Kazehara Sonata's Memory Overwrite Alice…? She's one of you too?"

"Yes," Kurumi nodded. "Inside my household, I don't hire many servants, maids, or cooks like some higher class nobles do. The Miyano household cannot dare to have traitors. Instead, I have seven loyal family members that I can count on no matter the situation. That includes Aka-chan, Yui, Kuro and Shiro, Kazu-kun, and Sonata."

"You said seven."

"The seventh, Miya...she's socially phobic so she doesn't come out much. Meaning she isn't enrolled in Gakuen Alice."

"Ah, I see." Ren thought. "No, actually, that would explain a lot of things."

"In other words, you believe me."

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I? That's related to the reason why your Alice is concealed as well, isn't it?"

"More or less."

"..." Ren didn't press into it more, only frowning.

"So I can trust you on this?" Kurumi asked firmly. "Well, while it wouldn't matter either way even if you told every living being on this campus, as Sonata could clear all, I'd rather not force her into doing things she'd rather not."

"Yeah, don't worry, I won't even tell Yuu," Ren answered honestly. "It's amazing how you've been hiding that the whole time, given your personality."

To his surprise, Kurumi didn't squeal or get angry. She just gave him a bitter smile and a small shrug. "Well, I am a lady first and foremost. If I can't do so much as keep one secret, they'd never trust me with underground information. But I trust you, Ren-kun. Please don't break my trust."

"Yeah, sure."

"Also...I think it's okay to shrink the distance to normal again. I think Yuuta-kun's getting quite tired." Kurumi smiled her usual bright smile.

And then Ren remembered. "Ah, that's right."

 **Kurumi: Hello, everyone. We're back with a new chapter!**

 **Ariko: Yes...Author-san just got back from a late tennis match and is posting this first thing...yay~**

 **Kurumi: Ariko-chan, be more excited about this...oh, if you're wondering where Author-san is...**

 **Chikage: *curled up in a corner and drawing on the floor mumbling* Why haven't there been any reviews lately? I have no fuel to post... Why have the views been declining by chapter? Am I doing something wrong?**

 **Kurumi: She's very depressed about this, as you can see...**

 **Chikage: Shut up! You don't understand anything!**

 **Kurumi: S-Sorry!**

 **Ariko: Anyway...this is Author-san's favorite chapter so far (especially the next part) so she hopes you enjoyed it as well.**

 **Kurumi: And if you enjoyed it, please review and give her fuel to post for next week! Because Author-san usually has tennis games until very late on Thursdays, it takes something good for her to post on time!**

 **Chikage: Don't say it like that! *goes back to mumbling* The views are declining...but I just finally finished writing Chapter 9...where am I going wrong?**

 **Ariko: *bows* Thanks for reading. Please give me taiyaki. Mrrow~**

 **Kurumi: Ariko-chan, that isn't happening. Please review if you enjoyed, everyone! See you next week!**


	17. Chapter 16: Shopping in Central Town II

"You need money?" Kurumi blinked at Mikan, who had come up to her sobbing. Yui, Kuro, and Shiro had gone off on their own, wanting to buy things, leaving Kurumi and Ariko to wander Central Town by themselves.

"Un...I'm rabbitless!" Mikan wailed.

"How much did you have to begin with…?" Ariko mumbled around a mouthful of taiyaki. Kurumi seemed to notice right then that Mikan's collar was badgeless.

 _A No Star…?_

"Five rabbits…"

 _She really is a No Star...Poor thing._

"I've got money if you need it," Kurumi dug into her small purse and pulled out her entire wad of cash, flipping through the bills.

Mikan's face immediately went pale at the sight of it. Hotaru's violet eyes glittered, and the elementary school Iinchou looked stunned. "H-How much is that?!"

"Hm? Oh, I've spent at least 1,000 rabbits, so I only have about 4,000 some left…"

"Kurumi...heartless…"

"I'm going to give her some!" Kurumi insisted when Ariko mumbled the words under her breath for showing off all the money in front of the rabbitless girl. "Mou~" She then counted out 500 rabbits, holding it out to Mikan with a smile. "Should I give you 500?"

"F-Five hundred rabbits?!" Mikan's eyes went wide. "Just imagine how much Howalon you could buy with that…!"

"...Huh?" Kurumi tilted her head with a confused smile on her face.

"No, no, no!" Mikan immediately spun around, covering her eyes and erupting in tears.

"M-Mikan-chan?!" Kurumi was confused by what happened, crying out in surprise.

"Grandpa told me not to accept money from other people, and there's no way I could repay 500 rabbits!"

"Y-You don't have to-"

"Grandpa said that I can never take money from other people!"

"Mikan-chan."

Mikan turned with teary brown eyes when Kurumi spoke with a solemn tone. "...uh?"

Then Kurumi beamed. "Take it. It's not my money anyway."

" _That's even worse!_ "

"Really…" Kurumi sighed, tucking all of her rabbits back into her purse and snapping it shut. "I understand. If you don't want it, I won't force it onto you."

"Uu...Five hundred rabbits…" Mikan sobbed.

"Speaking of which, what is this 'Howalon' you were talking about?"

"Oh, it's a really sweet candy-like snack that Central Town is famous for," Ruka spoke up, coming up with his bunny still in hand. "The smallest box costs 10 rabbits."

"Are you going to buy a box?" Another boy walked up, smiling.

"Hm…" Kurumi shook her head. "I'm not very much for sweet things. I've had too much of it in the past couple of weeks from the parties I attended."

"Huh?" The elementary schoolers looked confused, and she coughed lightly.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't supposed to say that. Please excuse me."

"The last box will be sold out soon! I've tried everything to make money, but it's not working!" Mikan wailed. "What do I do?!"

"I have an idea!" Kurumi clapped her hands together happily. "Just do what you're good at!"

"What I'm good at?" Mikan blinked, her eyes filled with tears.

"For example, a comedy show!"

"That's a good idea!" Mikan said excitedly, immediately looking cheery and joyful again.

"But why is Mikan-chan good at comedy shows?" Yuu asked in confusion.

Kurumi looked confused, tipping her head. "Ara, that fiasco with Bear back then wasn't supposed to be a comedy show?"

"Ah."

Mikan, Hotaru, and Yuu all remembered the time during lunch when Mikan had tried to confront Bear and had been sent flying with a single punch.

"What was that?!" Mikan yelled.

"I-It wasn't?! I'm sorry!" Kurumi cried, backing up from the exploding girl. "Kyaaa!" She toppled on the ground due to her clumsy feet and quickly hopped back up. "I'm okay!"

"Kurumi...clumsy…"

"A~ri~ko~chan!"

"...It's the truth."

"Mou~" Kurumi puffed up her cheeks. Then she got a sudden idea and suggested, "Say, Mikan-chan, what about a show that stars your friends' Alices? Then everyone can participate!"

Mikan blinked once and then her face brightened into a beam. "Yeah!"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"The Little Match Girl Mikan will now begin!"

Kurumi announced this.

Put simply: she and Ariko were in charge of the commentary. They had borrowed a desk from a nearby shop along with some microphones (for a cost of 100 rabbits) and were sitting behind it calmly.

"Today's special star is Gakuen Alice's elementary division's No Star, Sakura Mikan!"

"Kurumi, that's kind of rude…"

"Ah, I'm sorry, Mikan-chan!"

"No, it's okay…" Though Mikan looked somewhat disappointed at the crude start.

"So, Ariko-chan, what is the show about today?"

"Beats me…"

"You're supposed to know!"

"Too lazy to answer…"

"Well, that's that!" Kurumi turned around to face the crowd that had gathered again. "Curious? Watch 'The Little Match Girl Mikan' to find out!"

The crowd laughed.

"What's with that cat girl? Isn't she supposed to be an announcer?"

"Whoa, she just hissed at you!"

"Is she eating taiyaki?"

And then Yo walked out holding a sign and sat down in front of the ground cutely.

"Yo-chan wants you to watch too! Kyaa, isn't he so adorable?!" Kurumi squealed into the microphone.

The crowd laughed again, causing her to blush slightly, but then the air behind Mikan turned dark and snow started falling like a screen curtain, created by Yuu's Illusion Alice, who was hiding behind some people.

"It was a cold and snowy night-" Kurumi began.

"Snow? Where?" Ariko immediately curled into a ball on her chair, her tail coming around to hug her body.

"There, obviously," Kurumi pointed in front of her.

"Good night. I'm going to sleep."

"It's only in the story! Not to mention, you're not a bear! Cats don't hibernate!"

"How cruel, Kurumi...I'm not a cat…"

"Humans don't hibernate either!"

Another round of laughter was earned.

"Ahem," Kurumi cleared her throat to continue her commentary. "It was a cold and snowy night. The match girl was all alone."

"It's so cold...so cold...won't someone please buy my matches?" Mikan called out, holding out some twigs.

"Last I checked those were sticks...you can't randomly light a stick on fire unless you have supernatural abilities…"

"That's called an Alice, Ariko-chan."

"Oh, right."

"You _have_ an Alice, for heaven's sake!"

"Meow."

"Hurry up and decide whether you're a cat or a human…" Kurumi sighed.

Their commentary earned another round of laughter.

"As she walked, she could see happiness and laughter coming from nearby windows…"

"Kurumi, it's more natural to say houses."

"I meant that."

As Mikan walked in place, boys carrying large window frame pictures walked past her to imitate the scene. After two regular sized wood carvings of windows passed, Yo decided to walk up holding a tiny frame, which made Mikan yell, "What's with that really tiny one?! Ah, I'm starting to feel really empty. Even so, I must sell my matches… Would anyone like a match that warms their heart? Ah, would anyone like a match? Please! Give me a reason to smile! I just need a reason to smile!"

And then two boys came by carrying a gigantic one-she shrieked, "Whoa, here comes a big one! It's going to fall! Stay away from me! I don't need to see _that_ much happiness!"-and promptly dropped it on top of her.

"Here's your daily horoscope!" Kurumi cheered into the microphone as the crowd burst into laughter. "You will be all alone on the cold and snowy night unable to sell your sticks-"

"They're _matches!_ " Mikan yelled.

"-and left rabbitless to die! Oh, and beware of falling windows!"

"What the heck is up with that?!"

This set the crowd off again.

"That girl's really funny!"

"I know, right?!"

"But the little match girl Mikan has nowhere to go-" Kurumi began her narration again, and this time Ariko interrupted bluntly.

"No wonder she's walking in place."

"Has nowhere to go because at home….at home...at home…" After three false attempts, she sighed and facepalmed. "Mikan-chan, that's your cue to actually start walking forward…"

"I am!" Mikan started running, but she still wasn't going anywhere. "Huh? Huuuh?! What's going on? What is this? Why am I not moving?!"

Kurumi and Ariko both looked at the crowd pointedly, finding the person they were looking for at the back of the crowd easily: Sawakiguchi Ren snickering to himself.

Yuuta, next to him, sighed. "Ren, you…"

"Ren-kun, please stop interfering with the show," Kurumi instructed into the microphone.

Ren shrugged his shoulders dramatically. "I don't know what you're talking about."

This made the entire crowd turn to face him.

Kurumi said bluntly, "Yes, and the moon isn't white."

"Technically, it's not white," Ren pointed out.

"Technically, no one asked for your opinion," Kurumi countered.

"Kurumi, Kurumi," Ariko pulled on the sleeve of her friend's school uniform, and when she looked over, said matter-of-factly, "that's not a 'technically.' Also, this is obviously Mikan-chan's idea of a joke."

"It is not!" Mikan argued.

Ariko gave her a sly look, her cat ears standing on end.

Kurumi gasped. "Whoa, did Ariko-chan just make a facial expression I don't know about?!"

"What exactly do you take me for, Kurumi…?"

"Ariko-chan, of three faces!"

"And those are…?"

"The cat face, the human face…"

"And? You said three faces, right?"

Kurumi gave her the same sly look. "The Ariko-chan face!"

"That makes no sense, Kurumi…"

The crowd laughed.

"They just made the same face!"

Kurumi and Ariko immediately whirled around to face the crowd, stating simultaneously, "Who did? When?"

"They're like twins!"

"In which way?"

Then Kurumi blinked and said loudly into the microphone, "Ren-kun, please release your Alice."

Ren raised his hands and laughed.

Mikan stumbled forward, breathless and panting. "The blizzard is really merciless, and I'm about to faint from hunger. Even so, I must sell my matches…." She flicked her stick against a rock and raised it, and it immediately emitted a warm orange glow. "Ah, I'm hallucinating in the cold….A fireplace...I'm so happy! It's as though it's warming my heart...Huh?"

And then Yo came up and blew out the illusion carelessly.

"Yo-chan, you can't do that! This is the best part!" Mikan protested, pushing the boy off stage.

"And then there goes all of the Little Match Girl Mikan's hopes and dreams!"

"Kurumi-senpai, please don't turn that into a commentary session!"

Then Yo got angry, puffing up his small cheeks. His ahoge twitched, and he emitted a yellow glow before a bunch of white ghoul-like spirits shot out, charging at Mikan.

"Ah, sorry! I was wrong! I'm sorry! Please stop!"

Mikan ran around in circles as she was attacked by the ghosts.

"It's the Evil Spirits Alice!" Kurumi announced. "Remember today's horoscope, folks!"

"Wow, Kurumi is right for once…"

"Exactly what's that supposed to mean?"

Meanwhile, Mikan seemed to be rather conflicted about the situation she was in. "It tickles! But I'm scared! But it tickles! But I'm scared!"

The crowd laughed.

"It seems Mikan-chan is unable to win against the all-mighty Yo-chan!" Kurumi commented.

Mikan broke free from the spirits, brandishing her stick. "All right, I've had enough! Take this! Evil spirits, begone!"

Near the back of the crowd, Natsume lifted his hand, and the stick immediately caught into a huge bonfire.

"Uwaah! Match! Match! Match! It's burning! It's burning! It's burning for real!" Mikan yelled.

"It's not supposed to…?" Kurumi tipped her head.

"Kurumi, it's just a _stick_ after all _._ " Ariko emphasized the word 'stick' loudly.

A burst of water sprayed Mikan directly in the face, putting out the fire and drenching her as well.

"And now I'm soaked…"

Hotaru, riding on a robotic elephant and controlling it with a remote control, said impassively, "A cruel aunt needs to live up to her reputation."

Mikan panted. "This isn't how we planned it…"

"I wasn't aware there was a planning phase," Kurumi said worriedly.

Mikan quickly recovered, though. "Once more, from the top!"

She raised the match, initiating the same orange glow. This time, a Howalon appeared in the middle. "Ah...Howalon!"

"Say, Ariko-chan…"

"Mm?"

"If she wants Howalon that badly, why doesn't she just go and buy it….?"

Ariko sighed. "Kurumi, isn't that obvious? She's a _rabbitless No Star_." Ariko cruelly stabbed Mikan with her blunt words, not bothering to mask them.

"But even I offered to give her money…"

"I guess I should change that. She's a _rabbitless No Star idiot._ "

"Kurumi-senpai, Ariko-senpai, please be serious about this!"

"We _are_ serious about this..."

"Isn't this a comedy show?"

"No it isn't!"

"It's not?"

Mikan sighed. Then she continued her acting like nothing had happened.

"Howalon, I want to eat you...Howalon, I want to take a bite of you…"

"That's redundant."

"Then do so."

Both Kurumi and Ariko were blunt in their responses, but this time Mikan flat out ignored them.

"Howalon, the candy I yearn for...the candy I dream of!"

"How many times are you going to say that…? We get the point...really…"

"Better hope the tooth fairy comes."

"But I have no allowance money!"

"For heaven's sake, just use mine!"

"Just buy some taiyaki instead…"

"Ariko-chan, the point of this is that _she has no money._ "

"Ah, Howalon!"

Mikan started chasing illusions tirelessly, each time brightening and then falling back down in disappointment.

"Just once...I wish I could have had Howalon...just...once…"

She fake collapsed on the ground.

"And with that folks, remember today's horoscope for Mikan-chan! Beware of falling windows!"

"There's no way that's happening in real life, Kurumi…"

Then a wooden window carving appeared in midair and collapsed on the fallen Mikan mercilessly, who yelled, "What was that for?!"

"I thought she was dead…"

"Where did that window come from?!" Mikan shrieked, climbing out of the wreckage.

"The sky, obviously," Kurumi and Ariko answered simply.

In the back of the crowd, Natsume glanced at Kazu pointedly, who burst into laughter. "Ojou's words are my command~"

Kurumi thought, and then announced again, "Beware of falling windows!"

 _Bam!_

"Cut it out already!"

"Now you're being redundant, Kurumi…"

"Sorry, just wanted to try…"

Then Hotaru walked out holding a box and a sign. "I have an announcement. The Little Match Girl Mikan's sticks-I mean, matches are on sale for one rabbit each."

"Why would you buy sticks…?" Kurumi wondered aloud as people starting taking a couple one by one.

"Shh! Kurumi! It's for sale! It means they're trying to make money."

"Right…"

"Sounds interesting!"

"I'll take one!"

Mikan's face brightened at the positive comments and the people paying for the matches.

And then the crowd split in half and half of the people watching walked straight up to the girls doing the commentary.

"Um...are those nekomimi real?"

Ariko blinked. "I wouldn't benefit from wearing fake nekomimi." As she spoke, her ear twitched.

"Kyaaa!" The girl squealed. "That's so cool! Can I pet them?"

"No."

A blunt, direct answer.

Kurumi leaned forward and whispered in the girl's ear, "If you want to pet Ariko-chan's ears, there's two rules: pay her with taiyaki and also pet them correctly. I'll lead you through it."

"I just had taiyaki for lunch!" The girl clapped her hands and dug into her bag, revealing a piece of taiyaki. "Here you go!"

Ariko grabbed the taiyaki and handed it to Kurumi, who dropped it into the giant vacuum bag before taking the girl's hand and gently leading her through stroking the cat girl's nekomimi.

"Kyaaa, it's so soft!"

The line behind her dispersed quickly and returned with every person holding a piece of taiyaki.

The girl dug into her purse and pulled out a coin. "Here, thanks! Five rabbits!"

Ariko nodded, and the girl placed the money on the table before skipping off.

Mikan looked at Ariko tactfully. "Why do I feel like Ariko-senpai's making more money than me….?"

Well, it was true: 5 rabbits + 1 taiyaki per nekomimi stroke vs 1 rabbit per _stick_.

"Free taiyaki mrrow~"

And with this, Ariko was in a good mood for the rest of the day.

 **...Oh, okay. That was disappointing. After all those tears... But that's all right, at least I got more views~**

 **Kurumi:** **Author-san...she's trying to be happy isn't she?**

 **Ariko: Mm...**

 **What do you know?! I just got a freaking F on a pop quiz in lit! *cries* Ahem, sorry. I'm ranting now.**

 **Let's start over. I have a new chapter for the week! I just love love love~ this chapter so much! (Frankly-it's hilarious!) I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! Let's do this...review the words "rainbow blade" if you enjoyed this chapter, if this chapter made you laugh, or if it at least made you smile. That'll make me smile for sure! Thanks, love you all for reading! (I say that a lot when I'm looping, don't look too much into it.)**

 **Chikage's off for the day!**


	18. Chapter 16,5: Undergoing Alice Training

"Fire!"

Shiro opened her eyes sleepily at the sudden yell ringing out inside the dorms and felt the heat expanding around the room. Yawning, she instinctively installed a barrier of light around herself and plopped back down on the bed.

Her bedroom door was busted open.

"Shiro! Fire!"

Shiro's pillow went flying for Kuro's face the moment the door opened.

-Which would have been fine, had the pillow not caught on fire as it flew across the room.

"Don't come barging into a girl's room, stupid," She commanded, hopping out of her bed and crossing her arms over her white nightgown matching her hair.

"But it's an emergency!" Kuro used his Alice to deflect the burning pillow with his shadow. He had a similar black bubble made from his shadow around him, protecting him from the heat and the flames. "And don't throw a flaming pillow at my face-do you want me to die?!"

"You do realize we could escape at any time, right?" Shiro asked skeptically.

"Obviously," Kuro answered simply.

"Then don't barge into a girl's room like that! I'm sleeping!"

"What's with that?! The point of this is because I knew you _would_ be sleeping!"

"Then why did you come?"

"Because we need to get out!"

"Why?"

"If we don't get out, then everyone will worry about us!"

"Leave that to Kazu."

"You really want to?"

"...No."

"Exactly my point."

"I'm going back to bed."

"You're always sleeping."

"No, I'm not."

"Yeah, you're either sleeping or reading."

"Is that an insult?"

"Not necessarily."

"And you're always being an idiot."

"Hey! I already said it wasn't!"

"It sounded like one."

"You want to go there?!"

"Bring it on."

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

Outside, Mikan looked at the burning dorm anxiously. "Kuro and Shiro aren't coming out! What do we do? I'm really worried!"

Kazu walked up nonchalantly with his hands in his pockets, in his school uniform for some reason. "You shouldn't worry about them."

"Why not?" Yuu protested. "They're still inside the burning dorm!"

"They might need help!" Mikan agreed.

Kazu shrugged. "Knowing them, they probably got caught up in an argument and totally forgot about the fire."

"That's not true!" Mikan insisted. "I mean-the dorm is on fire! How could they be arguing? They're probably stuck somewhere!"

Kazu laughed. "Those two-stuck? Right. And the moon turned pink."

"I'm serious here, Kazu!" Mikan shouted.

"And so am I," Kazu replied with a frivolous grin. "If you don't believe me, go check."

"I will!" Mikan ran into the burning dorm without a second thought.

"Ah, wait, Mikan-chan!" Yuu protested. "It's dangerous!"

Kazu laughed as he watched her vanish inside fearlessly.

"Say, can't Kazu-kun use his Alice to put it out?" A girl nearby asked him curiously.

Kazu shrugged. "Well, sure, but I have to remind you that I have the Vacuum Alice and not the Wind Alice. So with that being said-would you rather have a full-fledged tornado tear the whole thing apart or simply swallow it all whole?"

"No, I'm good," The girl answered amiably.

Kazu laughed

Mikan ran through the hallways covering her mouth to prevent herself from inhaling too much smoke, yelling the twins' names. "Kuro! Shiro! Where are you?"

Then she turned the corner of the stairs and found the twins arguing at the doorway of Shiro's room, each one surrounded by a bubble of black or white power.

"I think I hear someone calling us," Kuro noted suddenly.

"Don't try to change the subject," Shiro demanded.

"I wouldn't do that!" Kuro retorted hotly.

"Idiot."

"Stupid sleepyhead!"

"Pathetic good-for-nothing cowardly stupidhead."

"Don't just fire off insults like it's none of your business!"

"Kuro! Shiro!"

"Ah, Mikan." Both of them turned, interrupting their argument as the girl ran up quickly.

"What are you doing? You need to hurry up and get out of here before the school burns down to the ground!" Mikan demanded.

Remembrance dawned on both pairs of identical blue eyes. "Oh, right, there was a fire _._ "

"Kazu-kun was spot on…" Mikan sweat dropped. Then she yelled suddenly when the stairs exploded next to her. "Kyaaa! What are you going to do now? We can't get out!"

"No, we can," Kuro and Shiro said simultaneously.

"Eh? How?"

"Shadow or light?"

"This is no time for trick questions!"

"It's not a trick question."

"Just choose one."

"Light, then…"

"Okay, we're leaving."

Shiro cleared the length of the hallway in one giant leap, grabbing Mikan and ignoring her screams of surprise as she vanished _through_ the wall. Or, to be more precise, she passed through a white portal of light that appeared on the wall. Kuro, on the other hand, simply dropped through a black shadow portal on the ground.

The three reemerged outside the dorm, surprising a majority of the other students.

"Take care of this," Shiro dropped Mikan out of the portal, who yelped as she crashed into the ground.

"Ow...What was that for, Shiro?! To think I was worried about you!"

"Mikan!" Hotaru ran up, panting.

"Ah, Hotaru!"

"What were you thinking?"

"Hotaru...are you mad at me?"

"Hotaru was really worried about you, Mikan-chan…" Yuu said as he walked up. "You shouldn't have charged in so recklessly."

Hotaru sighed. "Well, you're okay, so it's all right. Don't be so reckless next time."

"I'm sorry…"

"I'm sleepy...it's all your fault, Kuro."

"Why is it my fault?!"

"You barged into a girl's room."

"Obviously 'cause the entire place was burning!"

"Like that matters, idiot."

"Stupid!"

Kazu burst into laughter watching them. "Just like I thought~"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"What would you have done if you had gone and deprecated the school's morale? Doing those kinds of acts will not bring your star ranking up!"

Needless to say, their math teacher Jinno-sensei (the demon) was _furious_ the next day. Mikan stood quietly, looking at the ground. But at the last declaration, she argued, "But Kuro and Shiro were still inside!"

"That's right, Mikan-chan just wanted to help them!" Yuu agreed.

"This is none of your concern, Tobita-kun. Honestly, you and Imai should stop hanging out with this troublemaker already as you're both honors students."

Yuu looked down, sitting back down, and though Hotaru's face remained impassive, she was obviously angry from his words.

"And Hasegawa…."

"Yes?" Both twins looked up at him expectantly.

"What do you think you were doing still inside? You should know that once a fire starts, you're to immediately evacuate!"

They shared a look and then both shot to their feet simultaneously.

"Shiro called me an idiot!"

"Kuro called me a stupid sleepyhead."

Both glared at the other.

"Because you are one!"

"You two-" Jinno-sensei began, but neither twin was listening.

"You're always firing off your mouth when you feel like it! Can't you tell it bothers other people?"

"Oh, sorry, the truth hurts."

"I'll say that right back at you, stupid sleepyhead!"

" _I_ diot."

"You two…" A vein seemed to pop on Jinno-sensei's head and he raised his teaching stick, which crackled with electricity dangerously. "It seems I need to teach you your place."

Kuro and Shiro looked over and each held out a hand, summoning a black and white vortex respectively. "Go for it."

"Tch," Jinno-sensei looked even more irritated as he released a burst of lightning. The rest of the class cried out and covered their eyes.

This was useless, however, as every piece of the lightning simply passed through the vortexes of shadow and light.

"No using your Alices during class!"

"Right-no using your Alice during class, Jinno-sensei," Both twins answered nonchalantly.

"I'm the teacher!"

"There's no difference."

Before Jinno-sensei could reply, the door opened.

"Sup~"

Kazu entered the classroom yawning.

"Kagamine, you're late!"

Another burst of lightning flew straight for Kazu.

Kazu just yawned sleepily, not even bothering to defend. A vacuum automatically appeared in front of him, protecting him from the dangerous lightning that passed straight through and into oblivion.

"Sorry 'bout that, Sensei~"

Kazu's frivolous tone didn't sound apologetic at all.

"Where were you?"

Kuro asked him with a slight frown.

"Napping. There was a fire yesterday so I didn't get enough sleep~"

The envious look on the other students' faces was apparent.

But none as apparent as Shiro, who slammed her hands down on the desk in frustration.

"That's unfair, Kazu! Why is it that you get to sleep when I don't?!"

"Hm~? You could've joined me, you know."

"As if I'd get a good sleep sleeping next to _you._ You'd probably draw on my face while I was sleeping."

"No I wouldn't~"

The entire class looked at him and said as one, "You totally would."

Kazu laughed. "Yeah, I would."

"Besides, if I woke up to Kazu's face, then that would make all of my sleeping pointless," Shiro said bluntly.

Kazu laughed. "Yeah, that's true too~"

"No one usually agrees to _that_ …"

"All of you…" Jinno-sensei was close to exploding now, several veins popping all over his head in anger. "Quiet down!"

Lightning exploded from his teaching stick again, shooting towards all four students (being Mikan, Kuro, Shiro, and Kazu). As usual, the latter three easily deflected the lightning attack, leaving Mikan to be the only one who was shocked.

"Why me…?"

"Cause you're weak," Kazu responded, dispersing his vacuum casually.

"Hey!" Mikan shrieked angrily.

"The truth hurts," Shiro stated.

"Shiro-"

"Quiet, No Star," Jinno-sensei ordered. "Kagamine, sit. We're starting class."

"Hai, Jin-jin-sensei~"

 **('^') Time Skip** ('^')

"What are you doing exactly, Mikan…?" Kuro and Shiro looked equally skeptical.

And they had reason to be.

Mikan was currently standing next to a large white flag with a star symbol in the middle of the street, a white sports headband tied around her head and wearing a karate-like uniform (whatever _that_ was called). She punched her fists forward. "Isn't that obvious?"

"No, it's not."

"I'm training to become stronger!"

"I see…"

"I don't."

"Oh, right, Kuro, Shiro! You guys are strong! Use your Alices against me!" Mikan declared confidently.

The two twins shared a look. "You sure? We're really strong."

"Yup! Just come at me!"

"Then we won't hold back."

"Don't worry about it!"

Both immediately raised a hand, initiating a wave of black and white, which collided and attacked together in a blur.

"Nullification!"

An explosion rang out.

"...Think we went too hard on her?" Kuro asked, looking at the fallen Mikan on the ground.

"You must be kidding. That wasn't even 25% of our power," Shiro answered, though she looked a tad bit worried.

Mikan hopped back up. "It'll work next time!"

"I brought someone for you."

Permy-aka Shouda Sumire-walked up with a flamboyant middle schooler.

"This guy is…" Shiro instinctively surrounded herself in a bubble of light, and Kuro did the same with a bubble made from his shadow.

"All right, bring it!" Mikan said confidently.

"Here goes then…"

"Nullification!"

A large fart ripped out.

"What a weird Alice."

Completely unaffected as Mikan and Iinchou both passed out while Hotaru and Sumire used a gas mask and covered their nose respectively, Shiro calmly flipped a page in her large book, sitting against a nearby tree with Kuro standing next to her.

Shortly after they left and Mikan recovered, Tsubasa and Misaki came by with an elementary schooler wearing a pair of headphones.

"We brought someone for you, Mikan!"

"All right! Thanks, Tsubasa-senpai, Misaki-senpai!"

"Then we'll leave it to you!" Tsubasa shouted as he and Misaki both plugged their ears tightly.

"Nullification!"

The elementary schooler started singing. In an overly loud voice.

"Oh my darling~! Oh! My darling!"

Mikan passed out once again.

Shiro, sitting inside her bubble of light, calmly turned the page. "This school sure is full of weird Alices."

"No kidding," Kuro agreed.

"Maybe that was too hard for her," Misaki said.

The next person to come by was Natsume. Behind him was Kazu and the boy with the Telekinesis Alice.

"Oh~? What's this?" Kazu laughed at the sight.

Shiro looked up, and though she looked annoyed, answered anyway. "I have no idea."

"What are you doing?" Natsume asked this coldly to Mikan.

"Training to get stronger!" Mikan answered confidently. Her answer alone made Kazu burst into laughter, and she glared at him. "Hey!"

"Oh, really?"

"What, you want to try me?" Mikan took on a defensive stance defiantly.

Natsume cocked his head towards the other boy. "Oi. Send her up."

"Nullification!"

Mikan was sent flying in the air.

"Is that high enough for you?"

"Yes! Put me down! I'm scared!"

And Mikan was placed back down on land, panting. "Why isn't this working…?"

"Cause you're an idiot, that's why," Kazu answered, wiping tears from his eyes from laughing too hard. "You can't get your Alice to come out with sheer willpower."

"You can't?" Mikan looked confused.

"Normally no," Shiro shrugged. "I hate to agree with Kazu, but it usually takes something to trigger it."

"Like what?" Mikan asked curiously, her eyes lighting up.

"Anything," Kuro answered with a shrug. "It varies from person to person."

Suddenly Kazu smirked mischievously. "Ehh, I just got a good idea~"

Shiro and Kuro said immediately, "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Oi, oi, you're being mean~" Kazu laughed. "But your good-for-nothing-or rather, sorry, _Nullification Alice_ -"

"KAZU!" Mikan yelled.

Kazu grinned, continuing as if he had never been interrupted. "-worked on Natsume before, right?"

"Oi, what are you-" Natsume started.

"That's right!" Mikan declared. "Natsume, attack me!"

Natsume sighed. "You…"

Kazu laughed. "Come on, it'll be interesting~"

"Whatever," Natsume drew his hand across in a flash of flames. "I won't hold back."

"Bring it on!" Mikan declared. "Nullification!"

She was left with a burning bum.

Kazu burst into laughter as Natsume and the other boy turned to leave. "That was great-great!"

"You knew that would happen, didn't you?" Kuro looked at Kazu pointedly.

"Of course I did~"

Suddenly, both twins felt the rising urge to kill him once again.

 **Ahh, two days late! Sorry, I was really busy this week! Well, I got no complaints, so I'm assuming it's not that big of a deal. Hopefully. Anyway, I really am sorry.**

 **So this week we have another half chapter! Yaayyy~ (I swear, these chapters are pretty much comic reliefs. But I love them every time so it's okay.) As you can tell, it's from episode 11. I might have said this before, but I do try not to write the exact plot line too much because it's tiring to type and you might as well just go watch the anime. Again, tried to make it as hilarious as possible.**

 **Hope you all are still cheering me on!**

 **~Chikage**


	19. Cover Picture Announcement

New update! No, not really. Sorry. I have news for all my happy readers! I have finally found a way to transfer the picture to my computer! (I just emailed it to myself. I'm so stupid XD O/O) Well, in my defense, I haven't really thought much about it. But I hope you like it! I drew it myself and colored it digitally. So yes, it's my original work. My name is on it as well. If you can't tell, the bottom right girl with

If you can't tell, the bottom right girl with twintails is Kurumi, the girl on the bottom left with the cat ears is Ariko (obviously), the top left girl with the two buns is Akemi (I was going to try to draw Ren and Yuuta instead of Akemi and Yui, but I can legit count on three fingers how many boys I've drawn, so I gave up. Sorry!), and the top right girl with the pink hair is Yui. Do you like it? Please tell me if you like it! I worked really hard on it (four whole days!), and it's my first digital work. I love fangirling over my own work, so I want to know what other people think as well! Thanks!

Do you like it? **Please tell me if you like it** (whether it's a review or a PM)! I worked really hard on it (four whole days!), and it's my first digital work. I love fangirling over my own work, so I want to know what other people think as well! Thanks!

Better get back to doing my literature homework like I'm supposed to be :P. Love you all! I'll see you again on Thursday (after my tennis game)!

~Chikage


	20. Chapter 17: Adventure in the Woods

"This is rather troublesome…"

"No kidding…"

"Hm~ We've definitely been along this road before."

"Mm, you can see my taiyaki crumbs…"

"How did this happen…?"

That was a very valid question. In response to that, it all started around two hours ago…

….

…

..

.

"Say, Kurumi-chan, can you tell us exactly what you saw in the Northern Woods?" Tomo asked excitedly. "We've never been there before, you see…"

"Oh, it was a lot of fun!" Kurumi beamed. "After passing the bottomless swamp, we met Bear and Giant Piyo and then even saw all sorts of animals I've never seen before!"

"Eh, that's kind of interesting," Tomo smiled. "That seems nice~"

"Yui just got a su~per super awesome idea!" Yui clapped her hands together suddenly. "What if we got a class pet from the Northern Woods?"

"But we already have Giant Piyo…" Naoki stammered.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Yui chirped. "The whole class can help take care of it!"

"What about allergies, then? What if someone's allergic?"

"Then they don't have to. Hey~ Is anyone here allergic to animal fur?"

"If they were, they would have reacted to me…" Ariko murmured, biting into her taiyaki from the tail first this time. Her tail swished in the air. "Mm, better like this…"

"That's true~" Yui agreed.

"You're in the Somatic Ability Class, Ariko," Honoka commented. "Do you know if there are any other open animal pens near the middle school?"

"Beats me…"

"Yuuta-kun should know," Kurumi suggested.

"Open animal pens?" Yuuta repeated upon being asked. "Mm…" He thought, turning sideways in his seat to face them and brushing his black hair out of his eyes absently. "There might be. We found a lot of new animals recently so I'm not too sure, but there should be, I think. The last person on recording duty was Kazehara-senpai; you could ask her or check it out personally."

"What, you guys want to get a pet or something?" Ren grinned from the table.

Honoka's look soured. "You're sitting on the table again."

"Yeah, I am~"

"Yes, we are!" Yui cheered. "Yui wants a class pet!"

"Ehh, that's interesting," Ren leaned forward on his elbows, his violet eyes sparkling with mischief. "Then do me a favor and make it an animal of the canine family."

"A dog?" Kurumi blinked.

"But nekos are better…" Ariko mumbled.

"Why?" Honoka asked skeptically. It was apparent now that she rather disliked Ren.

Ren laughed. "'Cause Komai-sensei's allergic~"

-She had reason to.

Kurumi beamed brightly. "Ariko-chan, Yui, let's get a cat!"

"Mm, neko-chan…"

"Yui agrees~!"

Ren laughed again, shrugging as if to say 'what can I do about it?'

"Oh, if you want a class pet, you'll have to go through school regulations," Yuuta spoke up, bookmarking the page in his book to focus on the conversation. "I think you have to go through Komai-sensei since she's our homeroom teacher-"

"Tch."

"-as well as Narumi-sensei since he's in charge of the animal pens as he head of the Somatic Ability Class. There might be a couple of other formalities, but-"

"We can do that after we find a cute animal-a~f~ter~" Yui chirped carelessly.

"You're supposed to do it before…"

"Wahahaha~ Like I said, rules are meant to be broken~"

"And like I said, no they aren't," Honoka answered.

"Let's go find one during math class, Ariko-chan!" Kurumi suggested happily. "I'm sure Sawawa-sensei wouldn't mind."

"Mm...he totally would, but...that's okay…"

"I-In which way is that okay?!" Naoki protested.

"Would you like to come as well, Ren-kun?" Kurumi beamed.

She had been certain the problem child would say yes for sure, but Ren's face suddenly turned bitter and there was a distant look in his violet eye. But his usual mischievous smile was back as fast as it had vanished. "Nope, I'm busy today during math class. Sorry."

Kurumi blinked. "But test day isn't until Thursday."

"Yeah, I know."

Ren didn't elaborate any more, and Kurumi knew better than to press.

"Then Ariko-chan and I will go!"

"Catch me a dog~"

"Please be quiet, Ren-kun. Shall we go, Ariko-chan? During math class!"

"Mm. Want neko-chan…"

.

..

…

….

"Things got heated pretty fast, huh…"

"Mm, and we took a wrong turn pretty fast too...All Kurumi's fault…"

"Exactly why is it my fault?"

"Just is…."

"Do you want a cat or a dog?"

"I'm sorry, I was just kidding. Please don't take it personally, Kurumi."

"Thought so." Then something caught her golden eyes and she glanced over. "Ah. Speaking of dogs…"

Ariko glanced over as well, her nekomimi standing on end in high alert.

A small brown puppy padded out, panting cutely and looking up at the two girls with large brown eyes.

Kurumi squealed. "Kyaaa, it's so adorable! Maybe we should take-"

 _Swat._

Ariko's hand batted forward curiously at the small pup.

The dog immediately yipped in surprise and jumped aside, the cat girl's sharp claws sinking into the ground. The small pup bared its teeth with its hackles raised, startled by Ariko's sudden animosity.

Ariko's nekomimi and tail suddenly stood on an end and she ducked behind Kurumi to hide fearfully.

"...Ariko-chan, I'm starting to wonder how you raise 140 dogs…" Kurumi said sheepishly.

Ariko looked up with large green eyes, her tail twitching. "I have 128."

"Right...well, it's okay~ Let's not get a dog," Kurumi suggested cheerily.

"Agreed…"

"Come on, let's go, Ariko-chan!"

"Kurumi...don't ru-"

"Kyaaa! _Oomph_!"

"See…"

"Ow…" Kurumi rubbed her forehead, wincing as she climbed back to her feet. Then she noticed something and brightened suddenly, reaching forward. "Look, Ariko-chan!"

"...Kurumi... _put the snake down._ "

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"...Are you serious?"

"Yeah…" Yuuta sighed, shaking his head. "Apparently those two got lost in the woods and still haven't come back yet."

Ren laughed. "They're too funny!"

"Ren, this isn't a laughing matter!" Yuuta insisted.

"Sorry, sorry~ But didn't that monkey go with them?" He cocked his finger towards where Yui was yelling and shaking Honoka as hard as she could.

"Ah, Takino? Well she wanted to, but Miyano wouldn't let her. Apparently she has bad math grades and can't afford to skip class."

"Hm~? So? What about you?"

"Me?"

"You skip class all the time, right? Why didn't you go with them?"

"I only skip class because if I don't, then who knows what _you'll_ go and do!"

"Well, there's that too~" Ren laughed.

"I didn't think they'd go and get themselves _lost_ , though," Yuuta sighed again. "I _would_ have gone with them otherwise."

"Don't fret it; they'll be back soon~"

"Ren-kun…"

Yui suddenly appeared behind him and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him violently.

"For goodness sake, you can't say that so lightly! You have no idea how bad Hime-chan's sense of direction is-Yui still remembers as clear as day the time she got lost _in her own house!_ "

"Okay, I get the point! Stop shaking me!" Ren complained, pushing Yui off of him and sighing as he leaned against the desk, facing her. "Well, given the size of her house, I can't say I'm surprised…"

"The size of her house?" Yuuta repeated curiously, and Yui's eyes immediately glared daggers at Ren, daring him to slip up.

Ren just shrugged, brushing off Yui's gaze easily as he answered nonchalantly, "Yeah. She said it was bigger than Central Town, right?"

"Come to think of it, I heard something like that too…" Yuuta frowned. "Wonder what that was about."

"Who knows~" Ren shrugged with a grin. Yui let out a breath of relief, and the boy laughed. "But don't worry. They have until dinner to get back here."

"That's only two hours from now," Akemi spoke up from the desk next to them.

"Eh? It's already that late?" Ren blinked, checking the time. He whistled. "Wow, it really is."

"Where were you, Ren-sama? You were gone throughout all of math, science, and history back to back. I was so lonely!"

"Who cares how you felt?" Ren deadpanned.

"Ren-sama~!"

Ren sighed, scratching his head awkwardly. "I had some business to take care of. It just took longer than I thought."

"Ren…." Yuuta looked like he wanted to say something, but right then-

"Who cares about that?!"

Yui flipped a table. Yuuta and Akemi ducked out of the way in surprise, while Ren burst into laughter.

"We need to find Hime-chan and Ariko-chi! Immediately!"

"Chill out, monkey…"

"Yui can't! Not until Hime-chan's back safe and sound! What if something happens to her? Aka-chan would never forgive Yui!"

"How about you go out there and I'll watch you?" Akemi demanded crossly.

"What good will that do?!"

"I-I could tell them which direction we're in…" Naoki stammered.

"Yeah-and then they'd have to be able to walk through trees!"

"Say, Ren…"

"Hm?" Ren glanced over when Yuuta spoke.

"Couldn't you shrink the distance? You know, between them and the school."

"Ah, that's…" Ren thought. "That's a complicated matter. I can't. I'd have to know exactly how far away they've wandered."

"I see…"

"Not to mention there's a lot of obstacles blocking the way. But on the topic, couldn't you go find them, Yuu?"

"Wha-?!" Yuuta's cheeks flushed for some reason and he turned away. "No. I won't."

"But you can."

"I won't, all right?!"

Ren laughed. "Sorry, sorry~"

Yui suddenly got a thoughtful look. "Come to think of it, does Yui know Yuuta-kun's Alice…?"

Yuuta flinched and glared at Ren. "Ren!"

"Wahaha~ My bad~"

"Hasn't he been here longer than you though?" Honoka asked skeptically.

"Mm, that's what makes it weird!" Yui agreed.

"I-I just don't like my Alice, all right?" Yuuta looked away.

"Whatever-we need to find Hime-chan!"

"Yui, you're having another panic attack," Honoka said, pushing her friend away. "Calm down. Take a deep breath."

"There's no time for that!"

"Yes there is!"

"I can try using my Alice, but I'm not sure it'll work…" Tomo said timidly.

"You can?!" Yui grabbed Tomo's hands in excitement. "Thanks, Tomo-cha-"

The door opened suddenly.

"Who's using Alices?"

"...Ah."

The Alice-using hater Honjou-sensei stepped inside with a scowl.

"Honjou-sensei!"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

Honjou-sensei sighed, leaning his elbow against his desk. "I see...why were they going to the woods in the first place?"

"I-It's all Yui's fault!" Yui insisted. "Yui suggested getting a class pet from the Northern Woods, so…"

Behind her, Honoka and Tomo whispered to each other.

"Come to think of it, I don't know Honjou-sensei's Alice, either."

"Un, because Honjou-sensei hates using Alices for things he can do manually."

"Now I'm kinda curious…"

Honjou-sensei glared at them, and they immediately stopped talking. "Have you talked to Komai-sensei about this?" He asked Yui.

Yui shook her head. "Not yet."

"Go do that first."

 **('^') Time skip ('^')**

"They went into the Northern Woods again…?" Komai-sensei sighed, almost dropping her head onto her desk. "This troublesome class...give me a break…"

"Yui...Yui...Yui sorry! But Hime-chan and Ariko-chi are…!"

"I understand," Komai-sensei stood up. "I'll lead out a group of _capable_ and _respectable_ students with me."

"Oh, if you mean to say Ren-kun stays here…"

"Exactly my point."

"Then he and Yuuta-kun have already gone out."

Komai-sensei spat out the coffee she had been drinking by accident. Yui immediately raised the gravity so the liquid would float in the air, dropping it in the trash.

"Eww, Sensei! That's su~per super nasty!"

"Sorry," Komai-sensei wiped her mouth, looking annoyed. "Why am I not surprised…?"

Yui shrugged. "But Ren-kun's capable enough so it's fine, right~? Can the rest of us to join them?"

"I guess so…" Komai-sensei sighed. "Just be careful and make sure no one else gets lost."

"Thanks, Sensei!" Yui ran out of the staff room. "Wait for Yui, Hime-chan!"

"Sheesh, this troublesome class…"

 **Time for a new chapter! w This one's pretty much just a filler chapter. I want to show more some of their classmates' Alices and mainly the teacher's Alices (which will come up next chapter). This was the chapter I was stuck on for a little longer than I expected :P. But I finished it, so now I'm on chapter 14, which means I have more chapters for you guys all on schedule and no wait! Even if it's a filler chapter, I hope you all enjoyed reading it nonetheless. I tried to make it as humorous as possible, especially with Kurumi and Ariko's crazy antics.**

 **...I'm very disappointed that no one commented on my hard-worked cover picture...but oh well...**

 **Thanks for reading, I'll see you next week!**

 **~Chikage**


	21. Chapter 18: Adventure in the Woods II

"Are you sure this is okay, Ren?" Yuuta asked skeptically as he brushed a tree branch aside and continued down the path. "Komai-sensei will get mad at you again."

"And how many times have you said that before exactly?"

"...Probably over a thousand."

"See? It's not a biggie~"

"No, it's still a pretty big deal no matter how you look at it…" Yuuta sighed. "Anyway, the Northern Woods is huge. How do you plan on finding them?"

"No clue."

"You just came to get away from the school, didn't you?"

"Yep."

"Ren, you're hopeless."

"Wahaha~ You're so blunt about it, Yuu~ Anyway, why don't you use your Alice?"

"Yeah, but-" Yuuta started to protest, but Ren gave him a careless grin.

"Hey, come on. I mean, there's no one here."

"Fine."

Yuuta hopped up onto a tree top like a nimble cat, only stopping when he reached the highest branch overlooking the canopy of the woods. He let out a breath before opening his eyes slowly. His deep blue eyes reflected the sky and clouds, but then they seemed to dilate slightly, and he ran his gaze along the horizon.

A few minutes passed before he blinked a couple of times to return his eyes to normal and he hopped back down next to Ren.

"I didn't find them. It looks like they've gone further in," He reported. "But I did catch the downwind-this way."

"Sheesh, how troublesome~" On the contrary to his annoyed words, Ren laughed heartily.

"What was that, what was that?! What did Yuuta-kun do just now?!"

"Wha-?!" Yuuta whirled around and his face turned red when he saw Yui, Honoka, Tomo, Akemi, her friend, and Naoki tumble out of some nearby bushes. "You guys saw that?!"

"Of course!" Akemi said proudly. "Wherever Ren-sama and Yuuta-sama are, Fan Club President Sakurako Akemi is-"

"Sure did~" Yui interrupted cheerily, interrupting the girl much to her indigent reaction. "Yui saw a~ll of it~"

Yuuta felt his anger flare up. There was _no_ way Ren would have missed them. Ever. "Ren...you…"

"Yeah," Ren smirked. "You need to stop hiding your Alice eventually, Yuu."

" _Ren!_ " Yuuta yelled and whirled around to face his friend. Before he could do anything-

"You've got 200 km to cover; don't even try," Ren said immediately.

Yuuta glared at him but then sighed reluctantly. "Well, whatever. It's too late now anyway. My Alice, it's…"

There was a moment of silence as his voice trailed off.

Ren grabbed him by the shoulders and said loudly, "Animal Imitation Alice. That's this guy's Alice."

"Wha-?! Hey, Ren!" Yuuta protested at his sudden loud proclamation, but nothing could be done about it.

Tomo looked confused. "What's so bad about that?"

Yuuta looked away, his face flushed. "Well, that's-"

"Because this guy hates animals," Ren answered nonchalantly.

"Oi-"

"What, really?"

"No, of course not. Okay, problem solved. Let's move on before it gets dark."

"What kind of problem solving-" Yui started, but Ren had already vanished in the (most likely shortened) distance.

Yuuta said a silent thanks to his friend for getting the attention off of him before running after the mischievous boy.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

Of course, with an Alice like Ren's, it wasn't long before Yuuta lost sight of him completely.

"Sheesh…" As he burst through the trees, borrowing the speed of a cheetah, he scanned the forest with hawk-eye vision. "Where did he go?"

"Yuuta-kun!" Yui rushed over when he landed back at the gathering point. "Did you find them?"

"Not yet, but I'm more worried about not being able to find Ren…"

"Ren-kun's gone too, huh?" Yui paused and then giggled. "Why is Yui no~t surprised at all?"

Yuuta nodded wordlessly, sighing.

"Honoka-chan!" Yui ran back over to her friend. "How does it look?"

"Perfect!" Honoka grinned, giving her a peace sign. "I just have to finish tweaking it a little bit, and then...there we go!"

Standing before her was a small and somewhat cute-looking mechanic bot with a large circle display on its back.

"Honoka-chan's Robot Creator Alice and Tomo-chan's Radar Alice put together are so cool!" Yui squealed.

"I'm starting!" Tomo announced, and she held out her hands and closed her eyes. "Covering 3 km...7 km...10 km...complete!"

Honoka frowned as she checked the screen on the robot, which had received Tomo's transmitted information. The screen flashed a couple of times before revealing small red dots of the locations of people.

"No good?" Tomo asked Honoka.

"Nope," Honoka replied, shaking her head. None of the dots were in pairs of two, and she had been able to tell from just this.

"Jeez, how far did they go?!" Yui wailed.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Ne, Iinchou, have you found them yet?"

Akemi was complaining already, flipping her curly hair over her shoulder.

"Let's just hurry this up and go eat dinner already!"

"W-Well, I'm trying, but…" Naoki stammered.

"Hmph," Akemi tossed her head. "What good can _your_ useless Alice do? I bet Chiaki's already found something-"

"No, I haven't."

"What?" Akemi protested when the girl next to her (her friend or her minion, either one worked) disagreed with her. "But your Ear Placement Alice-"

"I've already tuned into a lot of the trees here," The girl said calmly, placing her hand on a nearby tree trunk. Her hand dipped _into_ it slightly, and she pulled back as a small, rippling circle appeared. "I haven't heard anything so far, just the other classmates searching. Apparently, Saiko-san's Alice didn't find anything for another 50 km."

"Are you serious?" Akemi complained.

"If you don't believe me, see for yourself."

She sighed. "Fine, I suppose I'll take a look." She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, her hazel irises had a fuchsia tint to them. " _Takino Yui._ "

Her vision blended with Yui's almost immediately-

 _Wait-Yuuta-sama?! Why is Yuuta-sama with them?!_

The downside of this was that because she only had the Sight Control Alice, she couldn't actually _hear_ anything they said. But since this _was_ the case, she had become fairly good at lip reading, and she was able to catch the gist of what they were talking about. She spotted the radar robot standing nearby and saw the 10 km label, along with the small red dots everywhere.

She pulled out of her vision and sighed. "This is going to be a long search, isn't it?"

"Seems like it," Her friend agreed in annoyance.

Naoki sent up a red signal flare, looking for the two girls.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

All four teachers-English, math, science, and homeroom-gathered at the edge of the woods, looking into the trees with worry.

"Should we have gone in after them?" Komai-sensei asked skeptically, folding her arms. "I don't trust the Northern Woods, after all."

"Yeah, that's why it should be off-limits, but-uwaah!"

All the other teachers ignored Sawada-sensei when he suddenly tripped and slipped over an untied shoelace.

"Say, Honjou-sensei, it's about time to tell the students to head in for dinner," Ashia-sensei commented, looking up at the tall teacher (or perhaps it was only the fact that she was short). "Don't you think?"

Honjou-sensei frowned.

"Tell them they have ten more minutes," Komai-sensei instructed. "You can do that, right?"

"Fine. Just this once." Honjou-sensei reluctantly stepped forward when being pressed by the two female teachers. He announced in a moderately loud voice, "Ten more minutes! Then get inside and head on to dinner!"

His voice exploded in a Sonic Boom inside the woods, echoing everywhere.

"Wow~" Ashia-sensei whistled and clapped her hands. "Honjou-sensei's Sonic Amplifier Alice is totally cool~"

"The rest of us should head in as well and make sure nothing happens to the students," Komai-sensei instructed as she reached her arm forward-way forward-and into the trees, catching a snake that had been about to pounce at a group of three girls.

"Right."

Three teachers split up and entered the woods.

Ashia-sensei stayed put and simply watched them go, staring at the woods with glowing brown eyes. Her vision dove and dipped into the molecules making up her surroundings, and she frowned.

 _This irregular oxygen layout...just what exactly is this?_

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Message Ball!"

A boy yelled this as he threw a baseball forward with all of his might, and it zoomed forward at lightning speed, curving and bending around trees as it flew.

"Hey, Sugara-kun! We can't keep up with that!" A girl nearby protested.

"That's not my fault! All it is is a message ball, not a tracker!" The boy retorted.

"We're supposed to be finding Miyano and Kusakabe!"

"Oh, yeah? Let's see you do something!"

"Fine then!"

The girl pulled out a sketchbook and a pencil, running the tip along the blank page and drawing a quick sketch before holding it up in the air.

"Robot!"

A giant, flying robot appeared in the air with a poof of smoke, slamming straight down and-

"Oi!" The boy yelled.

"Watch out!" The girl cried, panicked.

The robot crashed into the base of a tree, snapping it cleanly and sending it toppling straight for a group of girls standing nearby (who had been complaining). They looked up and saw the giant tree falling down on them, screaming and ducking.

There was a sudden flash of light and the tree vanished.

The girls opened their eyes in surprise to see a familiar math teacher standing before them, hand outstretched.

"Sawada-sensei!"

"Be more careful, girls," Sawada-sensei scolded, revealing a shrunken tree in the palm of his hand.

"Sorry, Sensei!"

All the students bowed.

Sawada-sensei smiled.

And slipped.

"Waaaahhh!"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"You guys really went over 20 km in…"

"Ah, Ren-kun!" Kurumi beamed, turning when she saw the boy step over a bush and walk towards them. "You came!"

"Do you even know what time it is?" Ren asked skeptically.

Kurumi tilted her head. "Isn't it third hour?"

Ren laughed. "Wahaha~ You guys are hilarious~ It's almost dinner time, Ojou-sama. Everyone's out looking for you."

Kurumi's head swayed for a minute as she looked at the sun setting in the sky, and then straightened as that realization hit her. "Oh, so it is! Time really flew didn't it, Ariko-chan?"

"Mm," Ariko nodded, licking jam off her fingers and kneeling before a bush. "It did."

"I know right, I didn't even realize~"

Ren laughed as the two girls calmly analyzed the time of day for the first time since they had set out. And then he asked a rather pressing question.

"Did you find a dog?"

Kurumi simply smiled brightly and answered, "Yes! We found an extremely cute, extremely friendly _ne-ko-chan_!"

"Tch, you're boring."

"Mm, we did," Ariko's head bobbed as she reached down and pulled out a tiny adorable kitten with large blue eyes and snow-white fur. "Kawaii neko-chan."

"Well, whatever, it doesn't matter to me," Ren shrugged carelessly.

"Mm...then its name is Yuki-chan."

"Wait-Ariko-chan, that's not fair! I wanted to name it!"

"Too bad," Ariko hissed and held the kitten away from her friend.

"Ariko-chan!" Kurumi whined.

"Punishment."

"For what, exactly?!"

"Say."

"Hm?"

Both girls broke off from their argument and looked over when Ren spoke, having remembered something.

"Are the two of you lost?"

Kurumi blinked her golden eyes in confusion. "Of course not. Ariko-chan can smell your scents from over 500 km away."

Ariko nodded and used her tail to point towards the school. "School is that way. Twenty-two kilometers away."

Ren laughed. "Sheesh, I told that monkey not to worry. What a hassle~"

Both girls looked utterly confused.

"...Huh?"

 **For reference for people like me, 20 km is about 12 and a half miles. :)**

 **So yeah, filler chappie but still a chapter! (Do you know how long it took me to wrack my brain to come up with all of these Alices, anyway? Some of them are random and weird, but hey, it's Gakuen Alice :) You like?**

 **I'll be back next week with an update! We'll be starting the part in the anime when Natsume gets kidnapped, so get hyped! XD (I think. I'll apologize later if I'm wrong. But I'm 98% sure it is.)**

 **~Chikage**


	22. Chapter 19: The School Festival is here!

"As most of you are aware," Komai-sensei announced to the class the next day, "the school festival is just around the corner. We will be spending the next few days within our joint classes preparing, so please do your best and try to have fun."

The class erupted in chatters, and Ariko pulled on Kurumi's sleeve a couple of times.

"Kurumi, Kurumi, Kurumi. What's a _school festival?_ "

Her loud and blunt question caught the attention of all the other students (as well as Komai-sensei herself), and the room went quiet almost immediately.

 _She's never been in a school festival before?_ was evidently what they were all thinking.

"A-Ariko-chan, you're asking the wrong person!" Kurumi insisted, looking flustered.

"...But Kurumi's read about it before, right?" Ariko tilted her head, her green eyes holding undying curiosity.

"A little bit," Kurumi admitted. Then she said quickly, "But that's not the point here!"

"It is…"

" _No it's not!_ "

"But it is…"

"A-ri-ko-chan…"

"Ahem," Komai-sensei cleared her throat and both girls turned to look at her curiously. "I suppose I'll explain for you. This school does festivals a little differently, anyway.

"First off, we do attractions based on the classes you're in. There's four different attractions: one from the Latent Ability Type, one from the Technical Ability Type, one from the Somatic Ability Type, and one from the Special Ability Type."

Kurumi opened her mouth to ask about the Dangerous Ability Type, but she caught Yui's eye by coincidence and the usually bubbly girl shook her head solemnly. So she stayed quiet and simply nodded at the teacher.

Komai-sensei seemed to respect the girl's decision to not press as well, continuing on. "We attract all sorts of people from around the world: namely sponsors and business people. The different classes compete with one another to see who has the best attraction and who can pull in the most people, make the most money-in more general terms, who has the most success. Awards will be given after the festival's finished-it typically lasts two weeks. At the end, there will be a parade and a dance. Any other questions?"

"Um…" Kurumi pointed at herself, her head tilted slightly. "So what do I do?"

"That's up to your group. Dismissed! Hurry up and go prepare for the festival. The opening ceremony's in two days!"

Kurumi looked disappointed. "Aww, I wanted to participate as well…"

"Too bad," Ariko gave her a sly look, her ears and tail standing on end.

"Mou, Ariko-chan~ I'm telling Sonata not to give you taiyaki today!"

"Wh-What? No! Don't do that! I'm sorry, Kurumi, I'm really sorry…"

And thus, the usual routine between the two girls began.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Ah, Kurumi-oneesan's here!"

The Hasegawa twins ran over excitedly from inside the Special Ability Type room when the door opened.

"Kuro! Shiro! Have you been good?"

"We were arguing."

There was no look between the two this time as they answered simultaneously, and Kurumi blinked.

 _They must not be talking about themselves. There's no way these two would straight out admit to arguing._

"You mean-"

"Mikan was arguing," Shiro corrected, and they stepped aside to show everyone staring at them, with Mikan standing at the front of the classroom, separated from the rest of the group.

Mikan suddenly asked Kurumi a little forcefully, "Hey, Kurumi-senpai, you agree with me, right? We need to do an attraction! It's the school festival!"

"It's not that we don't want to," Tsubasa disagreed with a small frown. "The Special Ability Class has never done a successful attraction before. We'd need something that can support all of our scattered Alices."

"There just isn't anything like that," Misaki agreed.

"Well...I mean…" Kurumi tilted her head sheepishly. "It's not like it matters to me…"

"What do you mean? You're part of the Special Ability class, right, Kurumi-senpai?" Mikan protested.

Kurumi's golden eyes teared up and she suddenly sat down on the ground, wailing, "I mean~ I can't even use my Alice to do anything!"

"Oh, yeah, Kurumi's Alice is the academy's top secret," Misaki remembered sheepishly.

"Mikan!" Both twins glared at the twintailed girl, and she flinched.

"S-Sorry, Kurumi-senpai, I didn't realize-"

"I'm only joking," Kurumi suddenly stood up and dusted off her skirt, her face completely impassive as she beamed her usual bright smile. "There's no way I'd let something like this get to me. I knew the rules when I enrolled."

Tsubasa sighed. "Oi, that kind of joke isn't funny, you know."

Kurumi laughed lightly. "Sorry. I wanted to cool the atmosphere a little."

The class blinked, and only then did they realize just how tense the room had been.

"But in this case, I have to agree with Mikan-chan," Kurumi announced loudly, stepping next to Mikan and taking complete control over the room. "While I may not have the chance to get to participate, but you guys have Alices that are perfectly fine and even more fun than the other students'. It would be a waste to not participate in the festival. No activity that joins all of your scattered Alices? Excuses. You just don't want to rack your brain and think about it. I heard our motto is 'freedom,' and that we should 'do what we want to do,' but while that's true we should also focus on what we _have_ to do. This school festival is one of the best places and times to show the school that they've been downgrading us far too much."

"But that's-" One guy began.

"I get it."

"Mikan-chan?" Kurumi was startled when Mikan interrupted in an angry voice.

"I just have to find something that'll combine all of our Alices, right? Just wait and see! Let's go, Kurumi-senpai!"

Kurumi looked surprised, and then she beamed. "Right!"

"Wai-Kurumi-oneesan!"

Both Kuro and Shiro ran out after them.

Tsubasa sighed. "Man, what a troublesome bunch."

"But…" A boy spoke up thoughtfully. "That girl, she was right, wasn't she?"

Another girl nodded. "Un, she had a point…"

Misaki was surprised. _Over a topic like this that has been typical for a few years now...she really is a powerful speaker. Kurumi, just who are you…?_

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Sonata...taiyaki…"

"Sorry, Ariko-chan…" Sonata said sheepishly, stroking the girl's nekomimi but she was swatted away. "Kurumi told me not to give you anymore for today."

"Kurumi, meanie…" Ariko mumbled to herself. She turned and headed for the door. "I'll go find Kurumi to change her mind…"

"Wai-" Sonata started.

"All right, everyone!"

Narumi-sensei clapped his hands, and Ariko sulked at the interruption.

"It seems we've come to a conclusion! This year, the Somatic Ability Type Class will be doing…."

There was a dramatic pause.

"A cosplay cafe!"

"Ehhhh?!" Cries rang out throughout the room.

"For now, I've chosen three candidates to be waiters as a start: Shouda Sumire…"

Sumire folded her arms and looked smug.

"...Kusakabe Ariko…"

Ariko looked disappointed, like she had wanted to be left out of this. Or perhaps she just needed a taiyaki. Yeah, that was probably it.

"...and Nogi Ruka!"

"Wh-Wha-?!" Ruka protested, his face turning red.

"Anyone else who would like to be a waiter please sign up here!"

"LIKE ANYONE WOULD WANT THAT!"

 **('^') Time skip** **('^')**

"Wow, it's been so long I forgot what the elementary school looks like…" Kurumi commented as she headed down the hallway after Mikan and the twins.

Mikan glanced over her shoulder curiously, walking backwards. "You've been here before, Kurumi-senpai?"

 _Oh, right, she doesn't remember._

"Only once. I toured the whole school before my enrollment," Kurumi beamed brightly.

"Oh, I see."

"Let's stop by our classroom for now," Shiro suggested. "We have a lot of random things in there; perhaps it'll give us an idea."

"An activity that puts everyone's Alices together, huh…." Mikan mused to herself, thinking. "That's hard…"

"Mikan-chan, you didn't think of anything before saying that…?"

"Nope!"

"I see…"

"What about Kurumi-senpai?"

"Well, I thought of a few things, but none of them are very good. For example, a comedy show, an obstacle course-"

"Ah, Natsume."

The door opened, revealing the raven-haired boy sitting in the back seat of the room by himself.

Natsume's eyes flickered up at them briefly before returning to the manga he was reading.

Mikan sighed and walked over, sitting down in front of him. "Has your class decided what to do yet?"

Kurumi glanced over at Kuro and Shiro, mouthing, 'she doesn't know?'

Both twins shook their heads vigorously, Shiro's white hair flying through the air.

"She came here not long before you did," Shiro whispered to Kurumi, knowing the girl wasn't good at lip reading. "This is her first festival in Gakuen Alice as well."

Kurumi's mouth made an 'oh' shape.

Well, she could at least read the atmosphere.

"There are a lot of things you can do with your Alice, so it must be nice…" Mikan continued obliviously, staring at the front of the classroom absently. "Like light fireworks or a campfire…"

"Hey."

"W-What?" Mikan asked defensively.

Natsume motioned for her to lean back, and she did slightly. "Closer." She hesitated and then leaned her head back even further, to which he held a hand under her ponytail and sparked a flame, whispering, "Go away, ugly."

Mikan immediately shot out of her chair and to the front of the classroom in one lightning fast motion, holding her hand to her burnt hair. "What was that for?!"

"They'd never let us participate."

"Huh?" Mikan blinked.

Natsume kept his eyes down on his book, continuing, "The academy wants to hide our existence. They'd never let us participate in the festival."

"Natsume…" Mikan looked surprised. "Is that why you're here all alone?"

Kurumi put her hand to her mouth, her golden eyes creasing with worry.

 _I had no idea either...I wonder if Ren-kun is also that way. Most likely, I suppose._

It seems she had no right to be complaining about her Alice.

On that note, neither did the other people from the Special Ability Type Class.

She made a mental note to bring this up as a possible argument if worst came to worst.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"There's more to it-I've also reserved a time slot for our play!" Narumi-sensei chirped.

A chorus of quiet "Whaaats" rang out throughout the room.

"Yes, yes, it's going to be called 'Snow White in the Sleeping Forest'! I've already written out the script for it."

Silence greeted his cheerful speech.

"Where'd everyone go?" Narumi-sensei said sheepishly.

"Places…" Ariko mumbled in reply, finally biting on a taiyaki in happiness, having finally won Sonata over. "Sumire-chan went to go find her brother and Ruka-kun went to chase Hotaru-chan down for something…"

"I see...well then, Ariko-chan, would you like to be the leading role?"

Ariko's eyes glinted and she raised her hand, her claws shooting out. "Naru-chan-sensei, would you _like to die?_ Right here, right now."

Narumi-sensei sweat dropped. "I guess that's a no. Hmm, but that's a problem… We need someone to play the lead princess…"

Suddenly, Ariko emitted a dangerous aura, and everyone stepped back half a step.

"A-Ariko-chan? Is something the-"

"Mm...Suddenly, I just got a good idea…"

Green eyes glinted mischievously like a sly cat on the chase.

 **('^') Time skip ('^')**

 _Bam!_

Kurumi jumped and yelped as she fell backwards when the door behind her opened suddenly.

"She's not here, huh…"

"Is Imai here? Oniisama is looking for her."

Shouda Sumire peeked inside. Behind her, a middle school boy with curly blue hair poked his head in, and Mikan turned slowly to answer.

"No, she isn't-"

Both broke off suddenly, pointing at each other and saying simultaneously-

"Ahh! You're that ugly No Star from before!"

"Ahh! You're that perverted seaweed-head guy from before!"

And they both looked equally pissed off.

"Ugly?"

"Seaweed-head?"

Kuro and Shiro ran right through them, straight to Kurumi's side (who had already stood up by that time).

"You guys are siblings? No wonder!" Mikan told the Shouda siblings.

"What's with that look on your face?" Sumire asked.

Mikan crossed her arms. "N...Nothing. Anyway, what do you want with Hotaru?"

"Unlike you, Imai Hotaru is the highly regarded rookie of the Technical Type Class," The middle schooler answered. "As a fellow Technical Type, it's been decided that I will be her advisor."

Mikan looked suspicious. "Has Hotaru agreed to that?"

"Of course she will!" The middle schooler argued. "She's always looking at me during our joint classes. There's no doubt that she really admires me."

And then there was the noise of wheels against marble, and the Shouda siblings turned to see Hotaru coming down the hallway on a duck-shaped bike.

"Oh, Imai!" The middle schooler said happily, rushing out to meet her.

Without a second thought, Hotaru ran right over him.

Off to the side, Kurumi clapped her hands to herself as Shiro continued running a video camera.

"Why, you…! Wait!"

Seconds later, Ruka came past riding a rhino, which stomped directly on the fallen middle schooler's back.

"Oniisama!" Sumire ran over. "Are you all right?"

Mikan looked out the door with a suspicious look on her face. "You call that admiration, huh?"

"Shut up!" Sumire demanded. "Asking someone like you was a mistake!"

"She's in the Special Ability Type Class whose withdrawing their entry, after all."

"We're not withdrawing!" Mikan yelled.

"Acting tough won't get you anywhere."

Kurumi wouldn't stand for this. She slammed her hand on the wall, an aura of fury rising up. Surrounded by a bubbling fire rising around her, her angry but smiling face was truly terrifying. "Did someone say something just now?"

"Erk…" The Shouda siblings looked afraid, taking half a step back.

And then, suddenly, the older brother's hair lit a small spark and smoke trailed into the air. Kurumi blinked and let her fury fade, looking at the fire in surprise.

The middle schooler screamed and tore off down the hallway.

"Oniisama!" Sumire ran after him quickly, shrieking, "Oh no! Oniisama's on fire!"

They all looked to the back entrance to the classroom, where Natsume was standing with his manga dangling at his side.

 **Ahhh, I'm so sorry, I can't believe I forgot to post the next chapter! Well, since this one's the first half of the chapter it's pretty much the intro, so not much happened. It all happens in the next chapter...well, a little bit of Ariko's typical comic relief here and there, so it's all good :3 Hope you enjoyed! Sorry for not posting, I've been really busy. Thanks for reading, and look forward to next week (which I WILL post on time, promise!)**

 **~Chikage**


	23. Chapter 20: The School Festival II

"Natsume!" Mikan looked surprised.

"Guess his seaweed head's gonna turn into a crispy seaweed head," He said nonchalantly. "You should hurry up and get going too. Or you'll end up withdrawing for real."

Mikan stepped towards him. "Yeah, but...The truth is, we haven't decided on an attraction yet. If only I had a good idea…"

Natsume's manga caught Kurumi's eye and she gasped. "That…"

Mikan seemed to see it at the same time, gasping and rushing forward. "Hey! Let me see that for a sec!" She snatched the book from his hands, ignoring his surprise, and examined the manga.

"Hey!"

"This is it!"

Kuro and Shiro peered over her shoulder curiously.

"Oh, an RPG game, huh?"

"That's a good idea...I'm surprised."

"What's that supposed to mean, Shiro?!" Mikan demanded, and then she shoved the book back into Natsume's hands with a quick "Thanks!" and ran down the hallway.

"Hold up, Mikan!" Kuro protested, running after her.

Shiro made a 'tsk' sound and took off after them. "Come on, Kurumi-oneesan, we should go tell Tsubasa-senpai before it's too late."

"Yeah, I'll be right behind you!"

The three kids vanished around the corner.

Natsume looked at the black-haired girl who had stayed behind. "Aren't you going after them?"

"I will," Kurumi calmly turned to face him, her golden eyes glittering with knowledge. "Hey, you're injured, aren't you?"

Natsume's crimson eyes narrowed at her suspiciously. "Mind your own business."

"This _is_ my business," Kurumi answered crisply. "You're Kazu-kun's friend, after all."

Natsume scowled. "Whatever. Just leave it alone."

"That's not good! You need to go to the hospital before you collapse!" Kurumi insisted.

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter!"

Evidently, Natsume was done with this conversation as he turned and headed down the hallway.

"Don't tell anyone."

Kurumi looked worried but she turned to go. "Be careful…"

"Oi."

Kurumi turned expectantly when Natsume called after her in a somewhat rude tone. "Yes?"

"How did you know?"

Kurumi looked down briefly, fidgeted with her skirt, and then looked back up with a sad smile. "Sorry, secret. I can't tell you that."

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"How'd it go?" Kurumi beamed brightly when Tsubasa and Mikan returned from talking to Jinno-sensei.

Tsubasa shook his head. "No good. He wouldn't let us."

"That Jin-Jin!" Mikan said to herself in anger.

Kurumi thought, tipping her head curiously. "No good, huh? Who is this teacher?"

"Jinno-sensei," Shiro told her. "He's a math teacher and the Board Director for the elementary division."

"Yeah, and he's a real demon!" Mikan agreed. "That Jin-Jin!"

"Ah...man, and we were all so motivated, too," The boy with the Possession Alice said in disappointment.

"And our teacher is no help because he's time tripping as usual."

"It's too early to give up!" Mikan insisted, and everyone looked at her. "I'm right, aren't I? We're not trying to do anything bad!"

"That's not the issue here, Mikan," Shiro said quietly.

"We're doing it because we want the guests to enjoy themselves! You guys all start preparing for it, I swear I'll convince him and be right back!"

Everyone only looked aside, and Mikan was angry again.

"What's wrong? We won't finish in time if we don't get moving! Guys..."

She turned to run, but Tsubasa called after her. "Wait. We all understand how you feel-"

Kurumi frowned to herself. "Mikan-chan."

"Kurumi-senpai?" Mikan turned.

"Perhaps I could try going to talk to him."

"You shouldn't."

"That's probably not a good idea."

Kuro and Shiro disagreed immediately.

"Kuro and Shiro too…" Mikan's shoulders trembled. "You're all idiots. If you're willing to give up so easily, then you're all just a bunch of big idiots!"

She ran off into the woods.

"Why not?" Kurumi tipped her head curiously, as if she hadn't seen Mikan's reaction at all.

"Because…"

The twins shared a look.

"Maybe we should let her give it a try?"

"No! There's no saying what Jinno-sensei might do! Not to mention Kurumi-ojou-oneesan can't even use her Alice!"

"That's true, but Kurumi-oneesan's negotiation skills-"

"Then it's fine if you two go with me, right?" Kurumi clapped her hands together.

They shared a look and then head bobbed.

"Un, I'm cool with that."

"That sounds alright."

"Then let's go!"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Excuse me!"

After two knocks, the faculty staff room of the elementary school division opened and Kurumi stepped inside followed by Kuro and Shiro.

"Is there a Jinno-sensei here?"

"Ah, Kurumi-chan! What are you doing here?" Narumi-sensei brightened from where he was gathering some papers.

"I'm here to resubmit the entry for the Special Ability class."

Kurumi stepped in front of Jinno-sensei's desk when Shiro pointed him out.

"I believe I already said no."

Kuro and Shiro immediately moved in front of Kurumi defensively, their hands drawn back in small fists and glaring at the math teacher. Jinno-sensei looked down at them in surprise, pushing up his glasses. The frog on his left shoulder croaked.

"Why?" Kurumi demanded in a steely tone. "We aren't doing anything wrong. What's wrong with actively participating in the festival?"

"The Special Ability Type class has yet to produce any results in years. I am planning to suggest permanently removing you from the festival."

"Give me a break!" Kurumi slammed her hand on the desk, startling all of them.

Kuro and Shiro whispered to each other, "Kurumi-ojousan's entered her debate mode…"

"What do you know? You're not the SA Class teacher, Noda-sensei is! You most likely don't even know five people in the class! You view us as stereotypical troublemakers, but you don't even know what the individuals in the class are like! Haven't produced anything in the past few years? Don't compare us to the previous generations that have stereotyped the class for the years!"

"Hey…" The twins both sweat dropped.

"Every year has new students, and every new student has a new idea! Especially Mikan-chan's imagination!"

"That girl is nothing but a No Star. Do not take anything she says personally."

"You…" Kurumi's golden eyes suddenly went ice cold, and her voice held no emotion whatsoever. Kuro and Shiro shared an 'uh-oh' look. "You're always putting people with a label. People are much more than a label. You evidently can't value a person's life enough. How about I get everyone in the school to overlook _you_? Maybe then you'll understand that you can't see people's lives with a filter in your eyes."

"Kurumi-oneesan, we're here about the resubmission," Shiro said quietly.

Kurumi's eyes narrowed. "All right, then, back to the topic on hand. The Special Ability Class _will_ be resubmitting their attraction. If you won't do it, then _I_ will do it for you."

"You…" Jinno-sensei's small conducting stick crackled with electricity. "You obviously don't know your place."

Electricity shot throughout the room, causing all the teachers to turn towards them, and Jinno-sensei jerked back when Kuro and Shiro swallowed his electricity easily, defending the middle school girl.

"You two-"

"I see...you're an _abusive teacher_ ," Kurumi said coldly. "No wonder you don't understand anything."

"The one who doesn't understand anything is you," Jinno-sensei placed the conducting stick down reluctantly. "Even last year, the Special Ability Type Class's attraction was below average and completely unsuccessful. The year before that was the same. We cannot have these failures embarrassing us in the festival that is meant to prepare one for adulthood."

"Failure is the first step to success."

"Continuous failure will not be tolerated any longer. It goes without saying that the Special Ability Type Class will not be able to produce something successful with all of the troublemakers in the class."

"Then what about me?"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't even know my Alice. I shouldn't even _be_ in the SA Type Class. Do you have any say to me?"

"I wouldn't know. If you can't use your Alice, then it wouldn't matter anyway."

"I wonder about that."

"What was that?"

"I said, I wonder about that." Kurumi suddenly stalked up and sat on the desk, her golden eyes mischievous and alluring. "Would you like to make a bet, _Jin-jin-sensei?_ "

Jinno-sensei's eyes narrowed up at her. "What kind of bet?"

"I'll make the Special Ability Type Class attraction successful."

No hesitation was detected in her voice at all. Jinno-sensei stared her down defiantly. Kuro and Shiro stood next to her with determined blue eyes supporting their lady's every word.

"If I do, I want an apology."

"To the class?"

"To me is fine. This is a personal bet."

"And if you don't?"

Kurumi gave him a smirk. "Oh I will. But if I don't, you can expel me for all I care. Do whatever you like."

Jinno-sensei's blue eyes narrowed, but Kurumi only gave him a confident but sickly smile.

"So, what do you say? Too chicken to prove yourself wrong?"

A moment of silence covered the faculty office. Jinno-sensei's eyes flickered towards the girl's sleeve and he scowled.

"Very well. Do what you like."

Kurumi smiled brightly, hopping down from the desk. "That's good." She headed towards the exit of the room, and then a glint of a silver blade glittered slightly in her sleeve. "I didn't even need to resort to Plan B."

The door to the faculty office closed on stunned silence.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

The next day, Kurumi was running a couple of cardboard boxes full of supplies across the school towards their attraction site when she came across a huge commotion at the school gates. She stopped curiously, her feet still hopping in place from her hurry, and saw the huge crowd gathered behind yellow caution tapes. Guards were positioned in occassional areas, controlling the crowd, and a middle-aged man with a bodyguard was heading down the aisle like it was a red carpet.

He had brown-red hair tussled but also combed, and his violet eyes scanned the crowd with a smile. He wore earrings-most likely Alice-restraint ones-and a green shirt with a black leather jacket and tight-fitting black pants. He was obviously a famous person of some sort.

Kurumi gasped suddenly. "Ah, I have to get these to Tsubasa-kun!"

She rushed forward, but as she did, her ankle twisted the wrong way and she yelped as she fell sideways. At the sametime, a boy standing in the crowd moved suddenly and bumped into her, sending her flying forward.

"Kyaaaa!"

She fell forward flat on her face, the cardboard boxes and the things it contained scattering all over the floor.

"Owie!"

"Are you all right?"

Kurumi blinked and looked up to see the celebrity kneeling before her with a smile, holding out a hand to help her up.

"You should be more careful."

Instead of taking his outstretched hand, Kurumi's golden eyes suddenly went wide and slightly hollow.

Two words slipped from her mouth in a silent whisper.

"Mouri...Reo…"

The celebrity, Reo, widened his eyes in surprise, but then he smirked.

" _Miyano Kurumi…_ "

He said her name in a soft voice no one else could hear and in a tone so menacing it sent shivers down the girl's spine.

 _Why…?_

Then Reo smiled and took her hand, pulling her in towards him. She yelped, but he leaned into her ear and whispered one word.

" _Sleep._ "

Kurumi felt her consciousness blur before everything went black and she fell limp in his arms.

Reo smiled, picking her up gently bridal style and turning to the crowd. "It seems she's just tired."

"Reo-sama, who is she?" The bodyguard whispered quietly as the two continued towards the school, carrying the middle school girl with them.

"One of the biggest nuisances we failed to assassinate some time ago...the head of the Miyano household, Miyano Kurumi."

 **('^') Time Skip** **('^')**

"Kusakabe, what exactly are you up to…?"

Yuuta was wary around the cat girl, who, for once, was not eating her taiyaki, and her green eyes were shining with mischief.

"Nothing really."

"Really…?"

"Just thinking about how to make Ruka-kun play the princess. Maybe I'll go ask Hotaru-chan for help..."

Yuuta swallowed.

He had just seen an entirely new side to Ariko.

 **Cliffhanger! All right, I'm on time this week! Hey, did you miss me~? Kyaa, the Anti-Alice Organization Arc was one of my favorites so I'm so excited to be posting this! (And yes, I twisted it a little bit, it's all thanks to devious Miss Ariko that you get to see Ruka in a dress! (Anyone else crack up laughing at that?) But this is my fanfiction after all!)**

 **Special thanks to Emia606 for commenting! Thank you so much, you just made my day! :) I hope you continue to enjoy the story!**

 **So, I'll see you next week with the kidnapping (maybe?)!**

 **~Chikage**


	24. Chapter 21: Rescue Mission Commence!

"Sengoku-kun!"

Akashi turned at the sound of his name, seeing a girl who had called out to him, struggling to move a large canvas painting for one of the attractions.

"Could you give me a hand…?"

"Yeah," He headed over and easily lifted the heavy background, helping the girl carry it towards the attraction she was working at. "Be more careful next time."

"Th-Thank you…Sengoku-kun, you're really strong, huh?"

"It's my Alice."

"Oh, I see…"

He set the background down and left the rest for the attraction's members to take care of, looking around and marking it down on a clipboard. _The school festival is as busy as ever...I wonder how the lady's doing._

"Sengoku-senpai-"

A middle school boy's voice was cut off when a girl's voice blared in his ear suddenly.

"Akashi!"

"Sorry, could you take care of this for a while?" Akashi turned a classmate nearby and handed the clipboard and pen to him, ignoring his surprise, and headed off towards the school grounds. "Something came up."

He put his hand to the Bluetooth at his ear once he was out of sight.

She wouldn't contact him unless it was an emergency.

"What's the matter, Miya?"

Miya-her full name was Koshika Miya. She was a middle school girl younger than Kurumi and Yui, and she had two common Alices: the Teleportation Alice and the Clairvoyance Alice. She had imbued her power into some devices to allow the the other members of the household to use, as she had a case of sociophobia, and she was an expert hacker and technician.

Miya's voice came back almost immediately. "Something strange happened. 'Rumi-jou's consciousness was cut off abruptly just a while ago."

"She isn't just sleeping?"

"With all the things she's supposed to do, no, she shouldn't be sleeping-but this is more than that. She fell asleep within three seconds, like her consciousness was forcefully terminated, and then she was moved while she was unconscious," Miya explained, and Akashi could hear the clicking sound of the keys in the background.

This sent him in a slight panic. "Where is she right now?"

"Just a sec." Miya pulled up a map of the academy with just a couple of key clicks before tuning into Kurumi's location in the school. "The infirmary. And hurry! I'm hearing some really bad things!"

"I got it!"

Akashi turned and ran towards the infirmary-

"Oh? Aka-chan going to the infirmary as well?"

Kazu was suddenly there, floating in the air behind him with a casual smile as he called the upperclassman by Kurumi's favored nickname.

"Kazu...you're just in time. Take me to the infirmary immediately."

Kazu's eyes narrowed as he caught the urgency in his voice and nodded without protest. "I got it."

A vacuum lifted both of them into the air and Kazu yelled over the roar of the wind as they were propelled forward with a turbo boost, "Did something happen to Ojou?"

"I hope it's nothing, but I got a command from Miya to check up on her just now," Akashi answered. "Apparently she passed out for some unknown reason. Didn't she tell you as well?"

Kazu shook his head, his messy hair blowing in all directions. "Nope~ Ruka just told me that Natsume collapsed due to an injury so I was going to pay a visit."

Akashi had been around the boy long enough to know that 'pay a visit' meant 'make fun of him.'

"But this takes priority, so I'm speeding it up. Don't bite your tongue!"

Kazu spun the vacuum in a reverse motion and swept them through the sky at lightning speed.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

Akashi and Kazu headed down the hallway of the infirmary in accordance to Miya's instructions, and just as the two boys turned a corner-

"Get out! Mrrow!"

The angry hiss of a familiar cat girl was heard as one of the doors opened and a famous celebrity was forcefully pushed out.

"Reo-sama!"

One of his bodyguards rushed forward and tried to restrain Ariko, but Ariko swiped forward with her claws, her nekomimi standing on end in fury. Her green eyes were alight with anger as she drew her leg up and forcefully kicked the bodyguard out of the room.

"Get _ouuut!_ Mrroooow!"

The door slammed shut.

"I'm guessing that's Ojou's room~" Kazu laughed.

"Yeah," Miya's voice answered. "I'll leave her to the two of you! I'm doing some research on Mouri Reo. Bye!"

And the Bluetooth buzzed as it was turned off.

"Mouri Reo, huh?"

Reo glanced over and saw him before smiling and simply heading back down the hallway without a word. Akashi sighed and pulled open the door to Kurumi's room. "Kurumi-"

"Mrrrrow!"

He was immediately attacked by a pouncing cat girl whose claws were still out in fury.

"Cool yourself, cat girl."

The high schooler didn't even bother stepping out of the way as Kazu brushed past him, shoving a taiyaki in her mouth from the Giant Vacuum Bag (that he had created). Ariko munched on the taiyaki thoughtfully, her green eyes still glittering with anger, looking very conflicted about being called 'cat girl' and fed taiyaki at the same time.

Finally, she reluctantly put her hands around the taiyaki and stepped aside, her claws vanishing and her ears flattening against her head as she said around a mouthful, "Oh, it's just Aka-chan."

"Oi, so I became invisible all of a sudden~" Kazu laughed.

Ariko turned away from him, her ear twitching. "Did I just hear a buzzing noise in my ear?"

"Ehehe…" Yuuta said sheepishly from where he was standing in the room as well.

"Who are you?" Akashi asked him with a frown.

"Oh, sorry, Sengoku-senpai," Yuuta said. "My name's Fujitome Yuuta. I'm supposed to accompany Kusakabe for an activity our class is doing, but she came here instead."

"Mm...because I could smell Kurumi…" Ariko answered, her tail twitching. "I wanted taiyaki."

"What was Mouri Reo doing in the room?" Akashi asked Ariko.

"Not sure...he said he found her collapsed so he brought her here, but I find that fishy...and he smelled like gunpowder. And he didn't have taiyaki to give me."

"I figured~" Kazu laughed.

"Mm, this fly is getting really annoying…"

"Do you want me to kill you, cat girl?"

"That's my line."

"So you can hear me after all."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"How about I seal the Giant Vacuum Bag from Ojou for three days?"

Ariko gave him a disapproving look, muttering something under her breath before saying monotonously, "I'm sorry."

"Oi, that didn't sound sincere at all~"

"It wasn't."

"Whatever," Kazu laughed. "Well, I'm going to go check on Natsume. Aka-chan can take care of Ojou."

"Right," Akashi nodded, sitting next to the sleeping girl. "Ariko, you should head back to your class as well."

Ariko sulked. "Fine. Need to find Ruka-kun…"

"Oh, if you want Ruka, then he's probably visiting Natsume," Kazu said nonchalantly.

"Then not a good time…" Ariko murmured to herself. "Mm...I'll just go ahead and tell Naru-chan-sensei he said he'll do it."

"Oi!" Yuuta protested, following the cat girl out of the room.

"She never changes," Kazu laughed. "I guess I'd better go see what Natsume's up to~"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Kuro! Shiro! Come give me a hand with this!"

"Coming, Tsubasa-senpai!"

Kuro was the first to hop down from where he was hammering nails into a wooden board and rush over to their senpai at his call. Shiro quickly joined them, her hands smeared with paint. She frowned at them before a flash of light appeared around them and they cleaned magically. Satisfied, she looked up at Tsubasa.

"What's the matter, Tsubasa-senpai?"

"Give me a hand with this," Tsubasa handed them a couple of boxes, which they each used their Alice to lift. "Can you send that over where Misaki is? She's not getting work done arguing with herself, Mikan's gone off somewhere, and Kurumi still hasn't come back...sheesh, all these people are slacking off."

Kuro was alarmed. "Kurumi-oneesan still hasn't come back?"

"No, she hasn't," Tsubasa replied.

Kuro frowned before he dropped the cardboard boxes into his shadow. He head Misaki's surprised yelped when they appeared next to her, but he ignored it.

"That's weird…"

"Un," Shiro nodded, doing the same with her boxes, and this time Misaki fell down from where she was sitting. "We should check on her."

"She probably just got distracted by something," Tsubasa replied. "I mean, I heard that superstar Mouri Reo was just hospitalized as well."

Kuro and Shiro's blue eyes both went wide, and they demanded simultaneously, "Did you say Mouri Reo?!"

"Y-Yeah…" Tsubasa was clearly startled. "You know him, right?"

The twins shared an anxious look before nodding and rushing off.

"Sorry, Tsubasa-senpai!"

"We're going to see Kurumi-oneesan."

"Oi!" Tsubasa protested, but the two vanished towards the school. "Sheesh…"

"Mouri Reo, from the organization who tried to assassinate Kurumi-ojousan last time?!" Kuro panted as he ran.

"I didn't think he'd show up here," Shiro agreed. "Akashi-oniichan should have got to Kurumi-ojousan, but…"

"Kuro, Shiro, calm down."

"Miya!"

The twins skidded to a stop in the middle of the road when the girl's voice came on over their Bluetooth.

"'Rumi-jou is fine."

At this, Kuro and Shiro let out a breath of relief.

"I noticed that she passed out suddenly some time ago and I sent Akashi to check up on her in the infirmary, so he's staying with her now. He was also able to convince the staff to let him."

"Oh, yeah, since Reo's there now students aren't allowed," Shiro remembered.

"Yeah. I want you two to do me a favor and sneak inside."

"I'm fine with that, but why?" Kuro's reply was immediate to Miya's sudden order.

"I'm doing a background check on Reo," Miya answered, her fingers moving at lightning speed across a keyboard. "He seems to be up to something pretty bad...Keep an eye on him. I'm not so much worried as 'Rumi-jou since Akashi is with her, but there's no doubt that he's up to no good. Be careful."

"Right!"

Blue eyes shining with determination, Kuro and Shiro both nodded.

Once Miya hung up the Bluetooth, Kuro turned to the smarter twin (though he'd never admit it). "So? How do you plan on sneaking inside?"

Shiro thought briefly. "We could dress up as nurses."

"Huuh?!"

"They'd never check how many nurses they have. It shouldn't be that hard to slip through."

"So basically…"

"Yeah. Basically, dress up like a girl."

"No way! We don't have time for this, Shiro!"

"You're right-we don't. So get changed."

" _No way in hell!_ "

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

They ended up taking the riskier by moving through shadow or light. This was extremely dangerous because if they came out in the wrong place, they would be caught immediately.

Kuro hopped up onto the marble floor, peering around a corner cautiously. He knelt to the ground and placed his hands flat on the floor, sending his Alice across the hallway and sensing for any shadows.

Shiro pulled herself out of a light vortex from the wall, keeping watch on Kuro's back.

"Kuro! Doctor coming!"

She whispered this loudly, and Kuro quickly hopped through the floor into his shadow, vanishing through the ground. The moment he did, Shiro vanished as well. Once the doctor passed, Shiro popped back out to ask, "Did you find Reo?"

"Yeah, he's up and walking just fine," Kuro whispered back, hopping out of the shadows. "We should be fine now-this place is a little more restricted since Reo's here."

"So much for the hospitalization," Shiro muttered. "What do you think he's after? I mean, Kurumi-ojousan's being watched by Akashi-oniichan, and the only other person is…"

Both paled at the same time as they came to the same conclusion.

" _Natsume?_ "

Shiro was the first to break out of it, shaking her head fiercely. "It won't do us any good to jump to conclusions. Let's follow him for now."

"Right," Kuro nodded, peering around the corner to see Reo heading in their direction. "He's coming this way!"

The twins quickly jumped into their respective vortexes until he passed, peeking back out and following him down the infirmary hallway by foot. As they ducked behind a corner, recognition dawned on Kuro and he whispered, "This path...it's Natsume's room!"

"Shh!" Shiro quickly clamped her hand on her brother's mouth when Reo turned to look in their direction with a frown, but seeing nothing, continued walking. The two let out a breath. Shiro watched him cautiously for a little bit and then looked at Kuro. "Let's teleport there. We can get there before him. Don't do anything reckless."

"I got it," Kuro nodded, and the two vanished in separate directions.

 **So I forgot to post. Again. x2. Sigh...I'm sorry, guys, it's been a very busy week for me, with schoolwork and whatnot...I've been reading and stuff but that's from my phone. I need my computer to copy and paste chapters otherwise it becomes even more of a headache. Sigh...I'm sorry again for the few readers I still have checking up on this story. I'll try to keep to the schedule more from now on. I know this chapter is pretty uneventful, but that's because it's only the first half. I hope you enjoy anyway!**

 **~Chikage**


	25. Chapter 22: Rescue Mission Commence! II

"Natsume...Natsume!" Mikan struggled against Sumire's grip, looking like she wanted to help the boy that had just passed out, but she was unable to get free.

"Shh! It's too dangerous to go out now!" Sumire insisted.

"But…!" Mikan protested.

Reo stood up suddenly, startling the two hiding girls, and headed across the room, opening the window. A bodyguard immediately teleported from outside into the room.

"Teleport him to the car trunk," He instructed.

"Yes, sir." The bodyguard immediately obeyed, and he vanished with Natsume.

Reo looked out the window briefly. "In truth, I wanted the girl as well, but she's being watched...oh, well, can't get everything I suppose."

He turned and headed out of the room with a small smirk to himself, passing the two girls hiding under a table without even noticing in the slightest.

"What's going on?" Mikan asked as the door closed.

"Can't you tell?" Sumire replied. "This is a kidnapping!"

"But why would Reo kidnap Natsume…?"

"How would I know? But if this isn't a kidnapping, what is?"

There was a sudden yell in the room, startling both girls.

"Why did you stop me, Shiro?"

"Don't be crazy. I told you not to do anything reckless."

Kuro appeared from the ground first, rising out of a black vortex and looking angry. Shiro emerged from the wall nearby through a white vortex, her blue eyes calm but angry. She hopped down next to her twin, holding up her hand and closing it in a fist, shattering the white chain she had used to tether his power down.

"But you really had to make me watch that happen in front of my eyes without doing anything?!"

"What would you have done?" Shiro fired back. "Reo has a lot of influence on the academy. You would have only landed yourself in trouble!"

"Yeah, but still-"

Shiro sighed irritably, brushing her white hair back out of her eyes. "Well, arguing here won't do us any good. At least we know he has the Voice Pheromone Alice now, so be aware."

"What good will that do us now?"

"Kuro, Reo's car should still be on campus. Follow it out."

"Shouldn't I stop it from leaving?"

"That'll only disrupt the crowd. Do you think anyone will believe you?"

"Fine. You go and tell Kurumi-ojousan."

"Kurumi-ojousan isn't awake yet. I'll tell the teachers for the time being."

"Got it. We'll keep in touch. Keep your aura open."

"Kuro! Shiro! You were here too?"

 _Crap._ The two whirled around when the two other girls crawled out of their hiding place.

"When you say Kurumi-ojousan-" Sumire began.

"I said Kurumi-oneesan," Shiro interceded. "You must have heard wrong."

"No, you said-"

"Hurry up, I'll lose the car!" Kuro interrupted.

"Right!"

"Wait-" Mikan began to protest, but the two had already vanished.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

Kuro passed through the crowd with ease, given all of the shadows merged together from the crowd all knit together in one big pack, and easily approached the car. He popped up behind the limo amidst the crowd of students, blue eyes narrowed in determination.

The gates opened slowly and the car started outside. There was a sudden poof of pink smoke, and the crowd settled down from the attack as the car slowly drove outside the academy. This had no effect on Kuro, however, as he took off in a burst of speed the moment the area cleared.

"Stop! No students are allowed outside!" A security guard ordered, stepping in front of him.

Kuro easily slid across the ground before dropping into a shadow vortex and reappearing outside. The guard was shocked, whirling around to face him, and two familiar girls took the distraction to roll out of the closing gates, narrowly making it out in time.

The gates closed, and Kuro was left facing Mikan and Sumire in surprise. "What are you guys doing?"

"Saving Natsume, obviously!" Mikan insisted.

"What about you?" Sumire demanded.

Kuro smirked. "Ehh, it seems we have the same thing in mind for once."

The guard ran over to the closed gates. "Three students have escaped! Open the gates!"

Kuro swore. "Holy hell, we'd better get a move on!"

Sharing a nod, the three elementary schoolers broke off in a run.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"That's enough! You three sure have guts!"

"Makihara-sensei!"

The elementary schoolers' history teacher Makihara-sensei appeared behind them not far away, grabbing them all firmly.

"You'd better be prepared for a punishment!"

Kuro bit his lip. _This is_ not _good. The car's getting away!_

"Sensei, we saw Natsume get kidnapped, and-" Mikan tried to protest.

"I'll listen to your nonsense after we get back to the academy!"

Mikan and Sumire's eyes were both wide, shocked by the sudden turn of events.

And then Kuro spoke in an icy tone.

"Sorry, Sensei, I don't have time for this."

And then he brought his fist straight up into the teacher's chin in a sharp and professional uppercut. Makihara-sensei yelled and collapsed on the sidewalk.

"Why, you-" The other teachers shouted, grabbing the girls and reaching for him, but the elementary schooler hopped back onto the guardrail.

"You'll thank me later," Kuro replied before dropping backwards into a black vortex.

No sooner than he vanished did the pack of crows come straight down on the teachers.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Natsume's been kidnapped?" Ruka repeated in slight disbelief as a crow landed on his arm. "Reo really did that…?"

"I knew he was up to no good again," Kazu muttered under his breath.

"What?" Ruka frowned, but the boy just shrugged, so the blond continued, "But Natsume is in the main campus hospital. It's not an easy place to break into."

"How should I know how he got in?" Hotaru replied. "But Mikan's always been a terrible liar. There's no way she could lie to me so convincingly." She pulled a ring out of her pocket. "See this? It's the Recorder Ring she had on."

She turned the top, and Mikan's voice came out.

" _Natsume...Natsume!"_

Ruka looked surprised, and the crow flew away.

" _Shh! It's too dangerous to go out now."_

" _But…!"_

"Well?" Hotaru asked. "Still don't believe me?"

"Wait," Kazu interrupted suddenly, his green eyes holding some degree of seriousness for once. "You said Kuro was there too, right?"

"Yeah," Hotaru nodded.

"Then that means…" He frowned slightly, and at that time a blue light flashed from his ear. "Give me a second."

He turned and put his hand to his Bluetooth, turning it on.

"Kazu!"

"Oh, perfect timing, Shiro. Where are you?" He asked nonchalantly, ignoring Ruka and Hotaru's surprised looks.

"On my way to the faculty office. But there's no time for that, Natsume was-"

"Kidnapped, right?"

"So you knew."

"Imai was just telling me about it. What are you planning on doing about it?"

"Kuro went after them. For now, I'm going to report to Narumi-sensei. Could you tell Akashi-oniichan to tell Kurumi-ojousan once she wakes up?"

"Sheesh, such a pain," Kazu sighed. "Yeah, I got it, I'll do that. Take Imai and Ruka with you-I think they've got something interesting for you to use."

"I got it. As much as I hate to, I'll leave it to you, Kazu!"

"Yeah, yeah, you can hate me all you want later."

Kazu switched off the Bluetooth and turned back to the two he had been talking to.

"Kazu, that's-" Ruka began.

"I have permission from the academy," Kazu said shortly. "But more importantly, that was Shiro just now. You guys join up with her, find Narumi-sensei, explain the situation, and confirm Natsume's current whereabouts. I'm going to run an errand."

The boy took off in the sky.

"Shiro?" Hotaru repeated with a frown. "Where is-"

"Right here," Shiro appeared from the wall next to them, grabbing both of their arms (as well as Yo, who was on Hotaru's back). "Let's clear this in one jump!"

"Wai-"

As irrational as her brother, Shiro pulled both of them through the light vortex and straight to the office.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Oi, Aka-nii!"

Kazu kicked down the door to Kurumi's hospital room mercilessly.

"Ojou awake yet?"

Akashi looked up from where he had been reading a book at Kurumi's bedside, setting it down and removing his reading glasses before standing up.

"Not yet."

He didn't bother with scolding the boy on his loud volume, since if Kurumi had been put to sleep forcefully then she would most likely be out for quite some time.

"Did something happen?"

"Natsume got kidnapped, so Kuro went chasing after Reo's car."

Akashi was surprised. He hadn't met the kid before personally, but he knew of Hyuuga Natsume's infamous reputation-and more so from Kazu, so he had never thought that someone like him would get kidnapped.

"Do the teachers know about this?"

"Shiro's on her way to tell them now."

"All right. But this isn't going to end well...for an Alice Academy student to be kidnapped-"

A sudden, sleepy voice cut him off.

"Who got kidnapped…?"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"What? Reo kidnapped Natsume?"

As expected, Jinno-sensei was stunned by the mere thought. But Hotaru nodded calmly, like it was no big deal.

"Mikan and Shouda-san went chasing after Reo's car."

"Why would Reo do such a thing?" Yamada-sensei asked.

"I don't know...but there's no reason for Mikan to lie," Hotaru answered.

"I know."

"Shiro?" Narumi-sensei turned to the girl in surprise.

"I know why Reo kidnapped Natsume."

Shiro bit her lip, blue eyes looking at the ground.

"But I can't explain in detail. It's up to you whether you want to believe me or not."

"What do you mean?" Jinno-sensei demanded. "This is an emergency situation-"

"Those are my orders."

Shiro's harsh tone interrupted him, and the room fell silent.

Finally, Yamada-sensei spoke up.

"Hasegawa. Why would Reo kidnap Natsume?"

Shiro nodded and looked up. "Mouri Reo is part of an Anti-Alice Academy Organization."

"Anti-Alice Organization?" Ruka repeated, but the teachers remained quiet.

Shiro nodded again.

"Why do you think so?" Jinno-sensei asked. "Mouri Reo rose through the ranks to become a Special, and graduated with top grades! Why would a star like him associate himself with an Anti-Alice Academy Organization?"

"I don't know the answer to the last question, but the answer to the first is classified."

"Do you know so for sure?" Yamada-sensei inquired softly.

Shiro nodded again.

Narumi-sensei looked down at Hotaru's Recorder Ring that he held. "Then that really was…"

" _According to the test results," The doctor reported, "there's absolutely nothing wrong with Reo's leg."_

" _Then…"_

" _Most likely, it was just strained. In that condition, even the slightest shock would feel painful. Or maybe visiting his old school felt so nostalgic so he wanted to take a break from his busy schedule?"_

"...Reo was planning to kidnap Natsume all along."

"That's preposterous!" Jinno-sensei argued.

"Most likely," Shiro nodded, ignoring the math teacher. "At first I thought…" Her voice trailed off and she bit her lip. "No, never mind. Anyway, we need to hurry and-"

She broke off suddenly with a gasp, doubling over and clenching her body in pain. She broke into a fit of coughs, dropping to her knees on the floor, breathless.

"Shiro?!" Narumi-sensei shot to his feet and so did Yamada-sensei.

Hotaru knelt next to her, feeling the girl's forehead. "She's burning up!"

"I'll go get a doctor-"

"Kuro…"

Narumi-sensei froze from where he was running to the doorway when Shiro managed to get out one word painfully. She coughed again, covering her mouth with her hand. Her blue eyes were wide.

"Something happened to Kuro…!"

Narumi-sensei hesitated.

Yamada-sensei knelt next to the young girl, who was burning up, and quickly ordered, "Hurry, Narumi-sensei!"

Just as Narumi-sensei reached for the door, it burst open and Kurumi stepped inside, her high heels clicking across the floor.

"Excuse the intrusion!"

"K-Kurumi-chan?!"

She stalked across the room and directly over to Shiro, handing the girl a small tablet and pill. Akashi and Kazu both followed her inside.

"You shouldn't just-" Jinno-sensei began when Shiro swallowed both without any hesitation.

"It's Alice balancing medication," Kurumi said shortly, standing back up and examining the room once. She unplugged Jinno-sensei's computer (that the substitute teacher was using) before grabbing a pen, clipboard, and a stack of blank papers and sitting down on the couch. "I'm going to borrow these."

"Kurumi-chan, you can't just-" Narumi-sensei started, but he was cut off as well.

"Aka-chan."

Kurumi simply held out her hand, and Akashi unclipped the Bluetooth from his ear and handed it over to her. She adjusted it slightly and turned it on, announcing loudly, "Miya, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, 'Rumi-jou!" Miya's voice replied.

"Set default listening status."

"Default listening status set!"

"All right. Kuro, can you hear me?"

"Kurumi-ojousan!"

"That's good. Stay quiet. Who else is with you currently?"

"Natsume's here, and so are Mikan and Shouda. But they're all asleep."

Kurumi tapped a couple of keys on the computer, writing it down on the paper as well.

"Describe the scene to me."

"It smells of an ocean, so probably a harbor. It seems like some kind of warehouse to me…"

"How many people are there?"

"I can't tell...something's blocking my Alice…"

"Most likely a Barrier Alice...stay put for now. Miya, new background update on Mouri Reo and anti-Alice Academy organizations."

"I'm on it!"

"What's she doing?" Jinno-sensei asked with a frown.

Shiro stood up, leaning against the desk and putting her hand against her head. "Getting as much detail as she can about the situation at hand so she can put together a plan."

"A Barrier Alice and a Teleportation Alice, huh…" Kurumi mused, writing it down by hand. She checked the computer screen before returning to writing something down. "Kuro, wait until they wake up, and then give me a periodic update from there. Yui and Sonata, remain on standby. Miya, continue trying to locate Kuro's location."

"Did you come up with a plan, Ojou?" Kazu asked as he walked over to her with Shiro right behind him.

"More or less," Kurumi switched off the Bluetooth. "The two of you, prepare to mobilize at a moment's notice."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Narumi-sensei, Jinno-sensei, Yamada-sensei, Hotaru, and Ruka could only stare at the girl in surprise.

 **Eh...the hype is up, but nobody even reads this anymore, do they? :( Tear. Oh, well, I guess I'll just keep posting and see how it goes.**

 **~Chikage**


	26. Chapter 23: Fight for your Life

**Soooooooo it's been a year (almost)...*Looks aside awkwardly. Hullo to the folks that are still reading this. Or are new to this, welcome. No, I didn't drop this. But I'm thinking about it. And I came to the conclusion that even if I drop it, I might as well update it to where it's currently at on my Drive.**

 **Kurumi:** You don't sound sorry at all though... What have you been doing this past almost-year?

 **Chikage:** Well, that's...I mean...

 **Ariko:** Slacking. Mmrow.

 **Chikage:** _No,_ wait, not that! No, wait, exactly that! I mean - that's beside the point - arrrrgh! I don't care!

 **Kurumi:** Okay, now that we're done tormenting the author for her laziness, let's have a recap session for what's happened so far! We've reached roughly around episode 13 in regards to the anime. Natsume-kun was just kidnapped (oh no!), and chasing after him we have Mikan-chan, Sumire-chan, and Kuro. Do you remember who Kuro is? If not...please reread. I do hope you remember the names of the author-san's main OCs: Sengoku Akashi, Kazehara Sonata, Takino Yui, Hasegawa Kuro and Shiro, Kagamine Kazu, Sawakiguchi Ren, Fujitome Yuuta, and of course, Miyano Kurumi (myself) and Kusakabe Ariko. Among others. Well, there's plenty of time to catch up. But the hype is up! Oh, yes, I (Kurumi) have currently taking charge of the rescue mission. Are we clear?

 **Ariko:** Kurumi...too many words...

 **Kurumi:** Oh my, I do apologize. Well, please either reread or keep reading. Whatever is up to you. Now, I must go continue tormenting the author-san.

 **Chikage:** You just said you were done.

 **Kurumi:** I don't know what you're talking about. Also, if you drop this story, I will kill you, understand?

 **Chikage:** Uh...(Runs to hide).

 **So yeap, sorry for the delay. Here we go! Onwards!**

 _Ah, hell, I screwed up badly…_

Kuro gritted his teeth as he moved against the bonds tying his hands and feet together, cursing to himself in his head.

 _I got careless on that one…_

If he wanted to, he could easily use his Alice to get out of the bonds constraining him. But he shouldn't have been able to (in other people's eyes), and he had no choice but to watch as Mikan tried to bit off the ropes restraining Sumire's wrists.

"Hey! Do it right! You're hurting me!" Sumire insisted.

"This isn't working…" Mikan sighed, rolling onto her back again.

"No freaking duh," Kuro deadpanned.

"Then you come up with something!" Sumire hissed.

"If I could, we'd be out of here by now," Kuro replied.

"Hey."

Mikan's eyes widened at the sound of the new voice, pulling on Sumire's sleeve. "Permy, Permy!"

"I told you, my name's not Permy!"

"Natsume's awake," Mikan said without caring about her name.

"Natsume, thank goodness!" Sumire exclaimed.

"'Bout time," Kuro muttered.

"For a while there, I was so worried about you!" Sumire cried.

Mikan saw the confusion in his eyes (or didn't, perhaps), and explained, "We saw you get kidnapped, so we chased after you."

"But this No Star wouldn't listen to me, so we ended up getting captured, too," Sumire added.

"I got careless," Kuro shrugged. "But I'll manage to escape on my own."

"Where are we?" Natsume asked instead.

"A warehouse?"

"I think we're at a harbor. I can smell the ocean. There's three exits, but two of them are blocked off by containers. I tried to find out more, but for some reason my Alice won't work."

"It's probably a Barrier Alice," Kuro explained. "Someone among Reo's men must have it."

"Barrier Alice?" Mikan repeated, but nobody bothered to explain for her.

"A boat is coming at two o'clock and they plan to send us away on it."

"If we can't use our Alices and the teachers can't find this place because of the barrier—"

"Don't worry. Shiro will come."

"How can you say for sure?" Sumire demanded when Kuro said this calmly. "This place is blocked off by an Alice-inhibiting barrier—"

"Because Shiro's Alice is connected to mine," Kuro replied.

"Anyway, we have to find a way to escape before the boat gets here," Mikan interrupted.

And then she returned to biting on Sumire's ropes.

"Hey, stupid."

"Don't call me stupid!" Mikan retorted to Natsume.

"What's that panda thing on your ears?"

"Huh? They're communication earmuffs that Hotaru gave me," Mikan responded angrily. Then she remembered. "Ah."

Kuro sighed. "You really _are_ stupid…"

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Miya, how's everything going?" Kurumi asked, flipping through her fifth full page of writing and handing it over to Akashi to look over.

"I've got it narrowed down to a couple of possibilities, but I can't say for sure. There's too little to go off of."

"I see…Contact me if you find anything else out."

"I understand."

Suddenly a childish song rang out.

 _"Panda, panda, panda dance. Ah pan—"_

Hotaru pulled down the microphone on her earmuffs.

"Yes? This is Hotaru speaking. Ah, Mikan? It's about time you turned on the switch."

"I-Imai, you had a way of contacting her all along as well?!" Narumi-sensei protested.

Meanwhile, sitting on the couch, Kurumi signaled Shiro and Kazu to get ready.

 **('^') Time Skip ('^')**

"Well then…"

"Should we tie them up again?"

"Shindou, weaken the barrier around this spot."

"Reo, but that's…"

"Just do it. I need to teach these brats that they can't resist, even if they're not tied up. We also need to find out what Alices these three have."

The moment Kurumi heard these words on the other side of the Bluetooth, she attacked.

"Kuro, make sure their attention isn't focused on you. Report to me everything you can."

Kuro nodded to himself, whispering, "Right."

Kurumi readied her pen.

Reo faced Sumire and removed his Alice-restraint earring, asking slyly, "Come on, now. Tell me. What is your Alice?"

The moment his attention was focused elsewhere, Kuro turned into the corner and said in a low tone, "Nine. Two guarding the door, two guarding Reo, and three more standing guard around the warehouse. One other is standing outside the doorway. Wait...there's another thirty or so scattered around outside…That's all. There's no other living life forms around the area."

"I see. Can you connect with Shiro?"

"Yeah, I can feel her power. It's far away, but…"

"Shiro, take Kazu with you. The two of you deal with Reo and the other men in the house. Kazu, make sure the others make it out safely."

"Do I need to accompany them all the way through?"

"No, Tsubasa-kun's on his way there, and so is Narumi-sensei."

"What are you doing?"

Kuro was suddenly jerked upwards when Reo grabbed his arm and hefted him into the air forcefully. Reo noticed the Bluetooth in his ear and smirked.

"Ehh, so you had one of these things as well…"

He reached forward to take it, but the moment he made this action, Kuro swung his leg up and kicked him sharply in the side, breaking from his grasp and stumbling backwards.

Reo was sent tumbling to the floor, and his two bodyguards immediately raised their guns.

"Why, you—!"

Reo didn't stop them from shooting this time as they opened fire.

"Kuro!" Mikan cried.

The entire warehouse was suddenly enveloped in black, and then it was sucked right back up into the boy, revealing wisps of black mist-like substance floating through the air. All of the bullets that had been fired had been caught up inside it, jammed inside the shadow.

"You wanted to know my Alice, right?"

Black shadows gathered at his feet as he stepped forward, blue eyes glowering menacingly, and the black mass spread upwards slowly as it flung the bullets onto the ground harmlessly.

"Then I'll tell you. I have the Shadow Control Alice."

Reo smirked, standing. "That's interesting. But you can't stand up to my Voice Pheromone Alice, can you? Release your—"

 _"Shiro!"_

Kuro yelled his sister's name before he could finish, and a white vortex appeared on the wall behind him. A white-haired girl shot out with her feet first, zooming forward and kicking Reo in the face.

"Oh, I'm sorry," She said coldly and sarcastically as she landed on the ground next to Kuro, a mass of white light circling at her feet. "Just botched the landing, that's all."

"You little—!"

"You're late, Shiro!"

"Sorry about that."

By Reo's command this time, a new round of bullets rang out. This time, each one was stopped in midair by a mini vacuum, spreading out all throughout the air in front of them like water ripples.

Kazu emerged from Shiro's light vortex, grinning as usual and floating in the air with his headphones over his ears.

"Sup~"

"Tch, so more brats are coming," Reo muttered. "Shindou, the barrier—"

"Oh, no you don't!"

Kuro swished his hands outwards and then knelt on the ground, slamming his hands down on the floor and straight to the man with the Barrier Alice's shadow. The bodyguard jerked when he felt his shadow freeze. Before anyone could help him, Shiro was there, having passed by Reo without the superstar even noticing, and she leaped into the air, slamming her heel into his head harshly. He passed out on the ground, the barrier dissipating entirely.

"Not bad."

Reo smirked as he activated his Alice to initiate a command, but he had just opened his mouth—

He froze.

 _My voice isn't coming out?!_

Kazu smirked at him, raising his hand and summoning mini ripple-like vacuums to form words.

 _'You can't speak in a vacuum.'_

Reo narrowed his eyes looked at the other bodyguard—

Before anyone could react, the bodyguard teleported and grabbed at the young boy roughly.

Kazu wasn't about to be caught that easily. He turned and whipped his hand up, trapping the man in a vacuum.

Reo moved forward to attack, but Kuro and Shiro grabbed him, swinging their hands, glowing black and white respectively, at their side and punching forward. A burst of power blocked Reo from interfering—

Another man moved suddenly appeared, firing a gun straight at Kazu, who instinctively moved his hand and trapped every bullet in a vacuum.

"Oh shi—"

Kazu almost cussed out loud (though no sound came out) when another man came from his left side, shoving him down. He hit his head on the ground and grimaced, accidentally losing hold on his Alice.

"Kazu!" Kuro and Shiro yelled.

Reo took the chance and issued a command.

 _"Don't move!"_

Aside from Mikan and himself, every person in the warehouse fell to the ground immediately—even the guards.

Reo smirked at them. "The tables have turned now, huh?"

Kuro and Shiro narrowed their identical blue eyes, fingers twitching—

 _"Kuro! Shiro! Stop!"_

Kuro, Shiro, and Kazu all winced when Kurumi's voice came through their ears loud and clear.

"But—"

The twins started to protest, but Kurumi broke them off.

"Our original mission at this school still stands. Don't reveal your true power to low life enemies as them. The two of you retreat temporarily. Kazu, make sure nothing happens to the other kids. I will fine tune plans and report back. Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

This was murmured quietly so that no one could hear, and then, without moving, both twins summoned a vortex to swallow themselves up and escape.

"So they took off without the rest of you? How nice." Reo said sarcastically.

"Yeah, those two have always been cowards~" Kazu said this nonchalantly, lying spread-eagle on his back.

Reo turned his attention to his men, commanding them to get up and struggling with the command, and the man with the Barrier Alice woke up as well, reaffirming a barrier around the warehouse.

"You…" Natsume managed to get the words out. "Why did you come?"

"Obviously to save you, stupid."

"Does the academy know?"

"No duh. Ojou's the one who gave me orders though."

"Are you okay?" Mikan went around touching all of them gently to make sure they were okay, releasing them of the voice command while she was at it.

Natsume sighed. "Listen. When I give the signal, all of you run for that door."

"But—"

"If any of you manage to get away, figure out a way to tell the academy about this place."

"Wait...you're in no condition to run!" Mikan protested.

"I can manage on my own. It's your own fault for following me here, and as much as I want to ditch you guys, knowing you're going to be sold doesn't sit well with me, okay?"

Mikan, Sumire, and Kazu all looked at him.

Kazu sat up and grinned. "All right~"

Natsume evidently didn't like that frivolous smile on his face, but it was the same as always, so he accepted it. "Let's do this."

The moment the guards turned away from them for a brief moment, Natsume yelled, "Go!" and the two girls took off in a hurry.

"Hey! They're escaping!"

The moment the guards went to chase after the girls, Natsume held his hand out towards the wall and demanded, "Don't move!"

Every person froze.

"Move even one finger and I'll detonate the dynamite that's on the other side of the warehouse," He threatened.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Reo stepped forward. "You don't have the strength to ignite a warehouse that far away. Not while you're inside this barrier."

"But I do…" Natsume raised a hand. "Want to try me?"

A flame sparked.

When Mikan and Sumire stood speechless, watching, as well, he ordered to them, "Hurry up and go!" and they quickly turned and ran out the door.

Then he sighed and looked at Kazu, floating on a vacuum next to him. "And why are you still here?"

"I never said I'd go. I said it's okay that you don't feel well about those two being sold," Kazu replied nonchalantly. "Besides, my orders were to make sure that everyone gets out safe. There's help coming, so I'm not worried about those two."

"Hurry up and get out of here."

"That's my line, you stupid injured person."

 **So, um, yeah...*Looks aside awkwardly again. I'm really sorrrrrrry~!**

 **Though I don't know if anyone cares.**

 **Kurumi:** Whether or not anyone cares...author-san...

 **Chikage:** Gah, I know! I'll finish it, don't kill me! Why am I getting threatened by my own characters?!

 **With that said, Tomomi Chikage, signing off~! I might return to weekly updates...or not...it depends.**


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